Broken Wing
by RGZ Archer
Summary: His name is Kai. You might have heard of him through the eye's of others, this time, see the world through his.
1. True Power

Broken Wing

Broken Wing

Chapter 1 True Power

Ok, this is my first chapter of what will be a series of one shots and multi chapter stories revolving around my OC Kai. If you don't like OC centric stories leave now. This chapter is a prequel of sorts to MissDeodakes story Crystal Lights. It focus's on how Kai found out about what was going on. I have her permission so don't bother with the Admins. I also wanted to give a big thank you to Lane19, my friend, I cant thank you enough for not only posting my work but putting up with me for all these years.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, I have his profile one a piece of notebook paper that I signed.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sounds_

Dull golden eyes blinked several times trying to remain open for more than a second.

_Scratch_

Eyes snapped open Kai jumped from the couch that he had fallen asleep on. All it took was a sound, a single sound for him to become completely alert. _"Someone's here." _Reaching for his tri-staff Kai dropped into a defensive stance. _"I can't see anything moving, but something had to make that sound. The Raiders don't hang around this part of the Terra, and no animal lives here, not even sky sharks."_

_Scratch scratch_

Turning with lightning fast reflexes Kai brought his staff around to rest on the head of a rather large bird. It was mostly blue, with a little bit of red on the underside of its wings. _"An actual Storm Hawk? I thought they were extinct?" _Kai brought his staff around to strike the invading creature only to hit thin air.

"Now is that any way to treat an endangered species? Are you sure that you're flying the right colors?"

Kai turned around coming fact to face with someone that could only be described as a circus performer. His outfit had a small fringed cape, and a cloth helmet that looked like a birds head. But what caught Kai's attention was the mans bright green hair. "Who are you?" Kai said thrusting the end of his staff towards the unidentified intruder.

"Oh just your everyday traveler. Say do you treat all of your guest like this? Cause if you do then your flying the wrong flag out there." The man said pointing at the Interceptors flag laying still from the absence of any moving air.

"I don't have guest. Now answer my question, who are you, and why are you here?" Kai narrowed his eyes and pointed his staff at the mans torso.

"You should be careful who you point your weapon at; they might expect you to be able to use it." The man said with a grin spreading across his face.

"You have tried my patient's long enough, leave now or I will make you. I don't know who you are, and frankly I don't care." _"Who ever he is, this guys a threat. He was able to find me, and that's no easy task. I didn't hear the proximity alarm go off_ _either, so how did he even get here?"_

As Kai processed what was going on, the man started looking around. "Nice place you got here. Roomy as long as you keep the curtains closed." The man pointed at the open window. Anyone that had been to Terra Deep would tell you, the place was no tourist attraction.

"I didn't come here for the view. Now get out!" Kai was getting ready to launch an attack when the man turned to face him.

"Of course not, you just came here to hide." His grin vanished as soon as the words left his mouth. He looked almost sad.

Kai on the other hand was livid.

"AAAAHHHHHHH!!"

In a flash Kai found himself suspended several feet off the ground, unable to move a muscle. The man was holding a short staff that had a rather large crystal on the top. Looking closely Kai could see that is was changing colors rapidly, sometimes it even appeared to be several colors at once.

"Really now, I though _she _taught you better then that. I would have expected so much more from you. Not to mention you actually kept that rock!" Upon saying this he struck Kai's tri staff with his own. For a brief second the crystal chamber in the center flashed with a black light.

"I found it, I kept it, I use it. You have a problem with that? And again I ask WHO ARE YOU!" Kai was beyond livid; his eyes were almost glowing with rage.

"Ppptthh Kids these days. They find some cursed rock and think their unbeatable." The man then moved his staff downwards. Immediately Kai followed the downward path and hit the floor, he was then slammed into the roof of his base, and then back into the floor again. "I can keep this up all day. Can you?" The mans voice was chipper, almost like he was enjoying this.

"If you release me now, I MIGHT let you leave in one piece." Kai hissed between clinched teeth.

"You are in no position to threaten a mouse, much less me. You're a good kid, but you have to work on those people skills. Now ask nicely and I MIGHT let you down." The man poked Kai to prove his point.

"_If he wanted to kill me he would have by now, what game is he playing?" _"Answer my questions, who are you, and why are you here. If you know about my crystal, then you know it's useless to you or anyone that would buy it."

The man shook his head for a moment. "What you choose to do with yourself, include kill." He tapped his staff against Kai's again. "Is up to you, I'm here to give you a warning boy, and if you're half as smart as you think you are, you will listen up and listen closely." The man walked up until he was only a few inches from Kai's face.

Master Cyclonis has found something, something that no human should have found. It was buried and forgotten long ago, and it should have stayed that way. But she has somehow found it." The man began.

"Well with Domiwick on her payroll I can imagine how." Kai said rolling his eyes.

"Please, that mommy's boy couldn't find a book in a library. Back to what I was saying, Master Cyclonis has somehow found the Cabion crystal." At this the man crossed his arms.

Kai was having a hard time listening to anything that the man was saying though, he kept switching from being serious to joking, and the way he was standing…if Kai were honest, he would say that it made the man look more like a woman. "Look, that's all nice and stuff, Master Cyclonis finds a new toy, she plays with it for a little while before the Storm Hawks come in and break it. Big whoop. You still haven't answered my questions. Who are you and why are you in my base!"

The man just shook his head before sighing. "Look kid."

Kai interrupted. "And stop calling me boy or kid!" I'm eighteen!"

"So what? You want me to stop calling you boy? How does girl sound? Does that sit with you better? Now you listen, because I still have a single ounce of respect for you, due to your little humanitarian act six months ago I'll just call you kid."

Kai was about to interrupt again but the strange man stopped him.

"It's my right to call you kid, because you, like every other person on Atmos including those stiffs that call themselves a council are kids when compared to me. Now you listen, the Cabion is not a little toy. I was there, believe me, I know exactly what that thing can do."

"What does it do exactly?" Kai figured that if he couldn't move, he would at least get some information out of this encounter.

"You've been to Terra Saharr before right? Of course you have, you used to watch The Great Atmos Race when you were little, what would you do if I told you that Terra Saharr at one time was actually the sister Terra of Amazonia?" The man was now leaning against the wall.

At first Kai was surprised that this man knew he used to watch the Great Atmos Race, but as soon as what the man had said sunk in, he couldn't help but gape. _"If what he's saying is true, all of Atmos is in danger!"_

"Close your mouth there boy, you'll attract fly's." The man waved his hand a few times in front of his face. "And would it kill you to brush your teeth once in a while? And that hair, ugh do you even have a mirror on this tub?"

Brought out of his train of though, Kai sent the man a seething glare. "Well if you had bothered to swing by a few hours later, AFTER I woke up, I would have had a chance to clean up!"

The man was smirking again. "So you still have some emotions left eh, looks like I underestimated you. She hasn't completely drained you yet has she?" The man once again tapped Kai's tri staff.

"How do you even know about her?" Normally Kai didn't trust someone he had never at least had one spar against, but this guy was sending out so many mixed signals it was driving him crazy. _"Ok so he CLAIMS to be old, but he looks like he's forty, he's fit enough to be twenty, and he acts like he's ten. He knows everything there is to know about everything and could have killed me in my sleep if he wanted to. Looks like I have no choice." _Kai looked the man in the eye, all trace of resistance gone. "What do you want? You could have killed me, but instead you just lecture me, why?"

The mans smirk changed to an honest smile. "Now you're catching on. Ask nicely."

It took a second before Kai realized what he was talking about. "Please…let me down."

The man nodded and with a wave of his staff Kai fell.

Hard.

_**THUMP**_

"I asked you nicely." Kai hissed through his teeth. _"I don't want to tick this one off."_

"You did, you asked me to let you down, so I did. If you wanted me to put you down softly or slowly, you should have asked." The man reached out his hand to help Kai get up.

"I don't need help getting up." Pushing himself up Kai noticed the man was frowning.

"I thought you learned." He said shaking his head.

"What?! What did I do this time?" Kai was trying to keep his anger in check, but this man was trying his last nerve.

"Let's do a little test. I promise that none of this is real." The man waved his staff and Kai felt his world fade black.

Waking up, some time later Kai found himself in a large room. It was dome shaped, and about the size of a carrier ship.

"So…Nice…to Seeee..you…_snarl_ have decided to wake up!"

Looking up behind him, Kai saw one of the few things in the world he truly hated. "Repton."

The Raptor had a large, and in Kai's opinion, extremely creepy grin spreading across his face. "All this time, I thought I had exterminated every last one of the Mesa, Starling aside of course. And here I find that another one got away."

"_That creep sold me out!"_ "It doesn't matter." Kai pulled his tri staff out.

That's when he heard it.

Laughter

Lots of laughter.

Looking around Kai saw that the room he was in, was an arena. Packed full with Cyclonian's, and the Master herself was watching from above.

"Do not worry, weakling, you are not the only one that will parish on this day." Repton pointed behind Kai, and as he turned to look he saw four figures being pushed out into the arena.

"The Storm Hawks?" Kai looked at Repton for answers.

"We found them on the way back from picking you up; I guess you could call it a two for one sale." The Raptor said with a slight chuckle. "But they are the least of your concern. Look up."

As Kai turned, his face went white as a sheet. There, beneath Master Cyclonis, held down in chain, was Starling. Though she was a fair distance away, it was easy to see she was in rough shape. "Let. Her. Go." Kai could feel his control slipping. _"I can't give in. I will control my rage; my rage does not control me."_ After taking a deep breath Kai looked up to see a smirking Repton.

"Of course we will let her go. Just as soon as you get past me, her free, and away from here." His grin turned into a twisted smile. "Oh and did I mention that there is a time limit? Your little friend is wired with an Oblivion crystal, you have five minutes to get her off this Terra, or else, there won't be enough left to burry in a match box."

"Prisoners! This is your one chance to escape. Should you survive, you will be given a, slight head start." Master Cyclonis was now standing with her arms above her head. "Let the games begin!"

Kai expected for Repton to charge, but instead he leapt backwards, landing a few feet in front of Starling. Looking around, Kai knew he was in trouble. _"Looks like they pulled out all the stops."_

Aerrow and his "just a friend" Piper were fighting the Dark Ace, Kai knew they probably couldn't beat him on their own, but it was unlikely that Dark Ace would be able to hurt either as long as the other was there. Kai had to admit that the two made a good team. Continuing his scan he could see Junko in a bare fist fight with Snipe. _"Big surprise, they'll be at it for hours." _He next saw Finn running and ducking around some columns firing at Ravess. _"And those two will be at it until they run out of ammo. Great everyone is busy, looks like lizard butts mine!"_

Running as fast as he could Kai charged Repton holding his tri staff behind him in his left arm. The Raptor just looked at him as though board. Kai leapt into the air raising his staff high, fully intending on turning the Raptors brains into mush.

Before he could connect the Raptor blocked the strike with his energy boomerang. Grinning a toothy smile the big lizard threw Kai like a rag doll. "Is that all you have boy!"

Before he hit the ground, Kai touched off with his free right hand and upright himself, charging in again. _"Why didn't he counter attack? Is this his way of taunting me?" _

Kai charged in again leaping up as high as he could, clearing almost twenty feet of the ground. "You will pay for not finishing me when you had the chance!" Kai spun his tri staff around above his head.

"And You will pay for making the same mistake twice!" Reptons energy boomerang changed form into a rather nasty looking scimitar.

"_Like I'm really that dumb!"_ SHADOW SLAM! The air around Kai was filled with copies of himself. _"I'll nail him this time!"_

Kai was surprised to see the raptor smile and actually CLOSE his eyes. At the last second he turned around and smacked Kai with his long tail.

"AGH! How?!" Kai was speechless. _"How!? There's no way to predict that move! The images might not be solid, but you can't see through them, I even practiced shifting my position so a copy would be where I was when I ise it!"_

Repton opened his eyes and smiled. "Foolish Boy! I am a hunter! You little trick is impressive, I will give you that; it would fool the best of soldiers and warriors alike. Too bad for you I am neither, I Am a hunter! The copies your little trick makes are not real, thus they have no sent, also by them not being solid, they have no wind resistance and thus make no sound when falling. I don't need my eyes to fight; I can use my other sense's just fine."

"_SNAP! Looks like I'll just have to fool all his senses." _"Shadow's Embrace." Kai's tri staff pulsed once, twice, three times before a black mist surround Kai's form. Looking back up Kai opened his eyes. No longer were they a dull gold, they were a near lifeless grey color. "Heads up meat. Your not the only hunter!" Kai's voice was hollow, devoid of any emotion. Looking up he then charged again moving at a blinding pace towards the Raptor.

Meanwhile up in a private skybox watching the battle below was the green haired man. _"So he has learned how to use it…hmm, but he still needs to learn."_

Again, again, and again Kai swung his tri staff, only to meet air each and every time. _"For someone so big this guy moves fast." _

"Is That the best you have boy!" The lizard taunted. "My dimwitted brothers provide more of a work out than this!"

"_That's it."_ Kai brought his staff around for another strike, twisting the center as he did so.

"Fool a simple strike will never hit me!" The raptor blocked the attack, only to be caught off guard by a second staff strike. "UGH!" The large reptile flew back a few feet. When he stood up he saw what had struck him.

There stood Kai, but his staff was no longer an eight foot pole, but it was now three shorter pieces held together by a foot of chain between each piece. One was in each hand, and the middle part across his back. "That Was a mistake BOY!" Repton charged at full speed and shoulder rammed Kai.

"_God that felt like getting hit by a bus. I cant take many of those." _Kai looked up at the clock. _Only two more minutes, I've got to get to Starling."_ Kai focused the energy from his Shadow crystal into his body. He knew that he would pay for it later, but right now he didn't care. Kai ran towards Repton at full speed again.

Repton was having a hard time focusing on Kai's exact location. There were several partial images surrounding him. They were not complete, but they seemed to move in and out, like after images, only some were in front of him as well. "You Won't get past me with plain speed, you should know that boy!"

Kai gritted his teeth and kept charging. At the last second he bent his knees to jump. Repton, thinking this meant another aerial attack raised his guard to block a high strike. But instead of jumping Kai did a back flip and charged into a forward handspring. Using the momentum from the handspring he shifted his weight so that he flew forward. At the last second he twisted the center of his tri staff, causing it to pull back together into its single piece form. "This is for Terra Mesa!" Kai slammed his staff into Reptons collar bone, shattering it. Without even stopping for a second he hurried to Starling as fast as he could. He could feel his muscles begging for rest, his lungs were about to burst. He was able to see the other fights continuing. Just as he predicted, none of the others were close to finishing yet. _"I might not be a Sky Knight, but I can still hold my own."_ Kai jumped up to the platform that held Starling. She looked like she had been beaten up pretty bad. Quickly looking for a way to remove the heavy chains, Kai couldn't help but notice the Oblivion crystal attached to an iron collar around her neck.

"Go…help..the..others." Starling looked up to see Kai's face. He noticed that she didn't look the least bit afraid. "Go…its…to..late." She tried to push him away with her head.

"I'm not going to leave you." Kai lifted his tri staff and struck the heavy chains as hard as he could, but the metal was just too thick. "BREAK!" Kai slammed his staff again and again, but it was no use. He knew it too, but he refused to accept it. "BREAK BREAK BREAK! COME ON BREAK!" Kai knew he was out of time. He didn't have to see the clock, he just knew it. He didn't know what hurt more, seeing the flash that had transported his only remaining friend to another dimension, or the fact that she didn't say anything to him. _"Why, why didn't she say anything?__!_ _Not even a goodbye!"_

After a few seconds passed Kai noticed that everything was silent. There was no sound, none at all. Looking up he noticed that everything was frozen, it was like time had stopped.

"Now do you see?" Came a very familiar voice.

"Grrrr! YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Kai brought his tri staff around only to be stopped, and once again suspended in the air a few inches off the ground.

"Now now, think boy, notice anything?" The man asked.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER! WHEN I GET DOWN YOU WILL HAVE NO PLACE TO HIDE! DO YOU HEAR ME!" Kai had tears falling freely in his eyes. At one time, he would have been ashamed to see what he had become, but right now he didn't care.

"Who? Who did I kill?" The man's voice was calm. He sounded almost like a father trying to comfort there kid.

"Starling…you killed her." Kai was breathing steady now. Only one thought was on his mind.

"Is that so? Don't you notice anything strange? The man asked.

"Strange? Why would I care about strange? As soon as I get down, you're dead!" Kai's eye's were still a lifeless grey, but there was a flash of dull gold every few seconds.

"Are you calming down enough to think yet boy?" The man asked.

"What are you talking about?!" Kai was seething; this man was responsible for killing his only living friend. _"Wait, I remember her? That's not possible. If she died, then I would have forgotten that she had ever lived, that means, that."_ Kai looked up at the man with a look of astonishment. "She's alive?"

The man smiled. "You figured it out. Good, and yes she is alive." But then his face turned grim. "For now she is, but for how much longer I don't know."

"What do you mean!? Enough of these riddles! What are you trying to tell me, what are you trying to say, why are you even here?" Kai had so many thoughts running through his head that he didn't know if he should hug the man, or deck him where he stood.

"Ok, straight to the point. I can respect that. But before I explain, do you know why you couldn't save her?" He asked.

Kai's head dropped. "Because I was too weak. It took me to long to beat Repton, and even after that, it wouldn't have mattered. There was no way to save her." Kai replied.

"Ah but that's where your wrong. There was a way that you could have saved her. Come here." The man held out his hand to help Kai down. "Let's watch and see how you could have saved your friend.

The next thing Kai saw was a white flash. Then he was sitting in a very nice chair in a private Skybox overlooking the arena. "Where are we?"

"My private skybox of course! Say do you want anything? Skydogs? Skycandy? There all free." The man gestured to what looked like an all you can eat buffet.

"I'll pass, now can we get to the point please." Kai was once again trying to keep his cool, but this man was trying nerves that Kai had only just discovered existed.

"Ok first watch." The man pointed out the window. The first thing Kai saw was a red flash, followed by Starling appearing in front of….himself? "How can I be in two places at once?" Kai turned to the man looking for answers.

"Your not, think of this as a replay, well what you should have done." The man replied.

Kai looked back and noticed that everything was moving backwards, like a movie being rewound. It stopped right when the countdown timer started.

"Ok this was your first mistake." The man said as he pointed to Kai charging at Repton.

"Uh what was I supposed to do?" Kai was confused; was the man saying that he shouldn't have fought? That made no sense.

"Look around you, notice the others?" The man pointed to Aerrow, Piper, Junko and Finn.

"Yeah, I saw they were busy with there own fights, they were fine up until the end." Kai replyed not seeing anything wrong with his actions.

The man just shook his head. "By helping others, you help yourself. Look." The man pointed back out to the field, but before it could continue he waved his staff.

Instead of charging Repton, Kai ran towards the two on one fight of Aerrow and Piper verses the Dark Ace. Kai watched as he, along with the other two were able to take down the Dark ace in under thirty seconds. The man was good, but three against one would have thrown off anyone.

Time left 4:30

The trio exchanged a few words before nodding and heading towards Finns fight with Ravess. Piper and Kai were able to help Finn distract the woman for a few seconds, allowing Aerrow the time he needed to launch a Lightning Claw attack, rendering her unconscious.

Time left 3:00

The four then made their way to Junko's fight with Snipe. Distracting the giant of a man, they were able to give Finn a clear shot with a few ice rounds turning the man into a living ice sculpture. The team, now numbering five made there way towards Repton, and Starling.

Time left 2:00

Aerrow gave an order, which they all carried out. Kai, Piper, Junko, and Finn ran past Repton while he was busy fighting Aerrow. When they reached her, it only took a second for Junko to pull the heavy chains out of the ground. He tried to pull off the iron collar, but it was too small for his hands to grip.

Time left 1:30

Finn then stood back and fired a single shot from his crossbow and shot the collar off of Starling neck. Piper then deactivated the Oblivion crystal with a Blocker crystal she carried. The five of them in turn were able to help Aerrow finish off Repton with ease.

Time left 1:00

The group of six then made its way to the exit. It was at this point that the movie stopped.

"You see? The man said turning to Kai. "If you had bothered to help the others, instead of rushing in, you not only would have saved your little friend, but you potentially could have saved four other people as well. Think before you act. You want to become a Sky Knight right? The first thing you need to learn is that the first choice is often the wrong choice."

Kai was still trying to take everything in. "So you're saying that I'm weak, and can't do anything on my own, is that it?"

The man slapped his face into the palm of his hand. "For someone that is supposedly a fast learner, you sure are slow." The man looked back at Kai. "Look, I know you still blame yourself for Mesa, if you want to make up for it, the first thing you need to do is move on. There are many, many crystals in Atmos, that have many, many different abilities. But there is no crystal that has the power to change the past. You can only use them to change the future. You are not weak, you are still learning, you have room to improve, but so does everyone else. What I'm trying to show you, is that there are some things that a person just can't do on there own, no matter how strong they are."

"What about the Dark Ace? He's defeated more Sky Knights then anyone who has ever lived." Kai spat back.

"Yes you are right, the Dark Ace has defeated more Sky Knights then anyone else alive, and it has taken him ten years to do it! But since you seem to be so fond of the man, let's have a recap. He defeated the original Storm Hawks, by betraying them in the heat of battle. They were so busy fighting twelve squadrons of Talons, that they never noticed one of there own was helping the enemy. That's how he fights. Yes he fly's solo for the most part, but he uses ambush tactics, brains! That's what I'm trying to teach you. Assess the problem, before you try to solve it." The man was close to being exasperated with Kai's stubbornness.

Kai sat, deep in thought, trying to figure out why this man was trying to teach him anything, much less teamwork. "Ok, I understand. You're trying to teach me not to rely on my skills and abilities alone, and to think before reacting. I understand that. Now, my question, is why?"

The man was smiling again. "Now you're catching on. I can see that you did listen to some of her lessons after all. Let's have a change of scenery shall we?" The man struck the ground with his staff, and in seconds the arena vanished. Kai and the still unnamed stranger were now in the clouds above Terra Cyclonia. "This is why."

Looking over the desolate landscape, Kai noticed several large transports filling up with ground troops. Along side them were hundreds of skimmers. "It's an invasion force." The color drained from Kai's face. "We have to warn the Council! The squadrons! How long before this happens?!"

"It already has. This is not the future boy, this is the present." It was at this time that a crackle of lightning went off behind them. "There is no way to stop this from starting. It already has. The best that you can hope for, it to prevent it from finishing." The man said in a grave tone.

"Why are you showing me this? Why not the actual squadrons? They would be able to make better use of this information then I would." Kai said more then just a little confused.

"Because, they already know." The man waved his staff and Kai found himself looking at row upon row of prison cells. Although he didn't recognize the people in them, he could tell by the insignia's they wore that they were all members of Sky Knight Squadrons.

"Ok, so what do you expect me to do? I'm only one person. There's no way I could pull this off alone" Kai said looking back at the man.

"Ahh so you've figured it out. Hurray he has a brain! You just one the grand prize!" The mans smile became absurdly large as he waved his hands. "You might be just one person, but you are far from alone." The man waved his staff again and Kai was assaulted with many, many images all at once. For a second he was watching a group of young teenagers, younger them himself walking down the streets reading a newspaper. Next he saw a group of people huddled together. They looked like they were planning something. The background changed again and showed two large dragons flying through the sky speaking to each other. Next was a young boy riding on the back of a dragon armed with what looked like a flame thrower. Kai's vision was beginning to blur with all the different images. He was vaguely able to see two people standing on a plateau above a dessert like Terra, looking into a large crystal. "You see boy, you're not alone. You might not be able to do anything by yourself, but if you all work together, you might just have a chance." With that the man struck the ground with his staff and Kai once again found his world turning to darkness.

"AH!" Kai jumped up from where he was lying on the couch. Looking around, he expected to be attacked again. He couldn't see where anything looked out of place, the record player was still on, playing a soothingly quite song, the T.V was still on, but the screen was static. Looking over at his night stand he was able to see his tri staff was still where he had left it the night before. He didn't see anything that was wrong.

"_**Squak!**_"

Turning around to look behind him, Kai saw the same bird from his dream. It looked at him for a second before turning towards the open window, and gestured with its head out side.

"You want me to go eh?"

"_**Squak!**_"

"Alright, it's been awhile since I had a good fight." Kai got up and stretched, trying to get the cricks out of his neck. "Time to go and say hello to our old friend Master Cyclonis." With that he strode over to the restroom to get ready. He never noticed the Storm Hawk as it flew out the open window flying up into the sky.

End chapter 1

AN: Ok I know that this chapter might confuse some people, but future chapters will explain more. Anyone want to take a guess at who the green haired man was?


	2. A New Mission Begins

Broken Wing

Chapter 2 A New Mission Begins

AN: Welcome to the second chapter in the Broken Wing series. This chapter is a continuation of the previous one; it explains how Kai got into Terra Cyclonia, and his first encounter with the Rock Hearts.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, and the Shadow crystal I have his profile one a piece of notebook paper that I signed.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

Looking in the mirror, Kai wondered how he had gotten into this particular position. He was dressed in full Talon gear and was once again thankful for the little business deal he had negotiated with Captain Scabulous. _"Good thing the Cyclonians always have spare uniforms in those supply shipments."_ He picked up the goggles and put them on, covering his dull golden eyes. _"Not bad, looks like they care about their men after all, these are actually quite comfy."_ However, Kai did not notice the small tag he had so quickly stuffed under the back of his collar.

"Property of the Dark Ace. Dry clean only."

Looking around he noticed that something was not right, everything was quiet. Moving towards the small table next to his bed he found the record player had jumped, thus it had stopped playing. It took him only a second to put the needle back on the old record to make it start playing again. It wasn't that he liked music. To be honest he didn't care for it at all. But he needed something to keep his base from becoming silent. That was one thing he had never been able to get over, even after six months of traveling. He could never forget that night, and if he could use anything to keep that horrid memory away, then he would.

_**Flashback to six months ago**_

Kai was sitting behind the scrapped wing of a skimmer he had found earlier that day, using it to block the cold howling winds from his body. He knew there were three sources of heat that he could use, key word COULD, not would. Looking back over his shoulder he saw the dying embers of flame that were serving as a funeral pyre for his friends, the former Interceptors. _"I'm sorry guys, if only I had been a little faster. Things might have turned out differently."_ His gaze turned until it laid sight to the smoldering pile of ash and scrap metal that he once called home. He just couldn't believe it, his home, it was gone, all of it. For twelve years he had lived there with his friends, four of which he would never see again in this life. He then turned back around so that his eyes came to rest on the form of Starling. She was under the two thin blankets that he had found, lying on her back looking up at the sky. She hadn't spoken a word since she woke nearly an hour ago. Looking around Kai couldn't help but feel his heart sink. _"This place was never silent. There was always a dog barking, or at least a bird chirping. It doesn't feel right for this place to be so lifeless; this whole Terra is like a graveyard."_ Kai bowed his head for a moment, and prayed that he never would experience utter silence again. As his eyes drooped into the blissful world of sleep, Kai had one last thought.

"_Whoever said silence was golden had no idea what they were talking about."_

_**Flashback end, returning to real time**_

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Kai picked up his tri staff. Before placing it in its hip holster he held it up to his face and glared at it. _"Sometimes I don't know if you're worth the trouble you cause me."_ He glared at it for another second before he secured it. Looking back at the mirror he studied himself for a second. _"Boots check, uniform check, gloves check, goggles check. All set to go."_ Kai closed the trunk that was full of various Cyclonian uniforms; it was one of several that he had. This one contained all the ones that he could wear, while the ones that were different sizes or cut for women were kept in separate trunks. They had proved useful in the past, they along with a small stack of I.D's he had swiped a few weeks back had saved his butt more than once.

_Thummmmmmeeeerrrrrrr_

Kai looked around. "What was that? It felt like a pulse or something." Continuing towards the back of his base Kai tried to place where he had felt that before, but couldn't for the life of him place it. He hit the power switch to the hanger and watched with an amused smirk as the lights cut on. He knew it was wrong to be prideful, but right now he didn't care. This was one of the few joys he had left. He liked to call it his collection.

Lining the left wall was an assortment of Skimmers that he had "collected" since he had moved in two months ago. It was part of the deal between himself and the good Captain. He would let the raiders know when a Cyclonian convoy would be passing close to Terra deep. In exchange for the information he would be given anything on his "wish" list that they came across. In addition, there were a few occasions that he had went along with them on one of their raids. During these he was treated like any other crewman, whatever he could carry off the ship by himself, he would get to keep. Most of the time the Murk Raiders didn't care about what he took since it was useless to them, things like maps, books, or instruments he could take with impunity. Weapons, crystals, and parts were another story, he had to fight for those, and he had long since given up on taking any form of food.

He had a nice little collection, eight complete skimmer's in all, with two special projects he hadn't finished yet. He had thought about collecting Heliscooters as well, but decided against it since they were in his opinion useless. Looking them over he could help but marvel at the engineering that was behind these machines. He looked at the Bone Wing in particular. _"I hate to admit it, but they know how to make a fun little toy." _He climbed onto a regular Talon model and revved up the engine.

"Let's see what this bird can really do." Kai had a huge grin plastered on his face. Anyone that knew him would tell you that there was very little that he enjoyed more than flying. He looked back for only a second to make sure the bay doors had closed behind him.

As he passed through the murky abyss that was Terra Deep, Kai couldn't help but think of what he was going to do once he actually reached Cyclonia. _"That guy said that there are others on the same mission as me. But how do I join up with them? It's not like I can just land in front of them and say, Hello my names Kai, can I help you guys destroy Cyclonia? And how am I even going to be able to tell who is on my side and who's a Cyclonian? I don't think anyone would be dumb enough to infiltrate Master Cyclonis's palace without some kind of disguise. Then add to that, how would I prove that I'm on their side? I didn't have any Chroma crystals, this is a real uniform. They might not trust me. I didn't even get a good look at any of them, though I do remember one of them was bald, but he more than likely will be disguised, and I don't have time to go around trying to spot a toupee."_

The flight was for the most point uneventful. Terra Deep was a good distance from anything, after all how many people wanted to live in a dark cloudy hole? _"Oh look another swarm of cloud krill, whoopee." _Kai thought sarcasticly. A few more hours past before Terra Cyclonia came into view. _"Dark, stormy, and moody, just like its resident dictator." _Kai laughed at his own little joke before he turned towards the hanger at the rear of the Terra.

_Static_

"This is Cyclonia control; please state your name, identification number, pass code and purpose of landing."

"_Let's see if I'm half the actor I think I am."_ Kai reached into one of his pockets and pulled out the I.D. he had brought with him. He cleared his throat before flipping on the radio to respond. "Cyclonia control this is special operative Black Falcon, identification number zero zero five seven four, pass code Zero Alpha Charlie, purpose of landing is return from special mission to Terra Atmosia." He had made up everything other then the ID number off the card.

_Static_

"This is Cyclonia control, we have no record of your name or pass code on our database, and there is no record of any flights from Terra Atmosia in our flight schedule."

"_Oh well, time for plan B, I'll just act like Snipe." _"Now you listen here! What part of SPECIAL OPERATIVE or SPECIAL MISSION do you think would show up in your database?! I am running low on fuel, and I am carrying time sensitive information! What's your name, who's your superior officer?" Kai was praying that the poor sap would fall for his bluff.

"Th this is Cyclonia control, your clear for landing…um have a nice day?" The man on the other line sounded like he had just swallowed a live Dynamite crystal. Kai almost felt bad for scarring the poor lad, but then remembered that this was a war, and in a war you don't fight fair.

"_Now for the hard part, after landing I have to pass for a Cyclonian special operative. What was it Starling said? Ah that's right, just act like I'm on a fashion walkway, keep my eye's forward, make no eye contact with anyone, I don't salute anyone, ignore anyone that does salute me, and hope I don't run into anyone that is in the special ops, or MC herself."_ And that was just what he did. After landing the poor sap from the radio was there waiting for him with a clipboard. He ignored the little pest until he actually worked up the nerve to tap Kai on the shoulder. Kai turned towards the young man, who couldn't be more than sixteen and leveled him with the same smoldering glare Starling had when he switched out her shampoo for some green hair dye a few years back. Surprisingly it had the exact same effect, the boy's knees gave out and he collapsed to his hands and knees almost like he was begging for forgiveness. Kai started to feel guilty so he decided to cut him some slack. "Look, I've been awake for two days straight, I'm tired and after turning in my report I have every intention of spending the next month asleep, if you leave now, I will forget ever meeting you, and you will not suffer any demotions ok?" The boy nodded and ran off. Kai continued his way towards the palace keeping up his act until he reached a particular hallway. He could see a group of Talons heading towards him. Judging by the way they were acting Kai could tell that these guys were ace pilots, or special ops, and he wanted no part of them. After all they might not recognize someone impersonating a regular Talon. But he knew for a fact that aces were a tight knit community, they all knew each other, even if they were on opposing sides of a conflict. Thinking fast he did the first thing that came to mind. Kai closed his eyes and jumped as high as he could to the left side, then he jumped off that wall to the right, then back to the left. After four jumps he was at the top and spread out his arms and legs to hold himself up between the walls.

"_I just hope nobody looks up, cause that would be really hard to explain my way out of."_ It was at this time he saw a sewer vent get pulled to the side and four figures pull themselves up through it, two male and two female. The first thing that caught his attention was the fact that they were not dressed as talons, the second was that one of the men was wearing a wig. _"I found you." _Kai allowed himself a small grin, but that quickly faded as he realized they didn't know about the group of Talons heading their way. _"I didn't want to start some kind of big brawl, I was trained for infiltration and one on one fighting, not bum rushing. This is bad." _Kai decided to sit tight for the moment.

"You know," one of the men said. "We're about a block from that steakhouse…"

"Oh don't even _think _about going off to see Sara," one of the girls said.

The small girl caught Kais attention quickly. _"How could they even think of bringing a child with them?! She can't be any more than ten years old!"_

The man looked back at the small girl with an almost hurt expression on his face. "I wasn't th-"

The second man now spoke up. "Guy's we're not in the street anymore." The man gestured to their surroundings.

It was then that they spotted the group of talons rounding the corner. Kai tried to make out what they were saying, but their voices were in a hushed panicky tone. He could see one of them reaching into a shoulder pouch and pull out four something's that were then passed around. There were four small flashes of light one second, and the four Talons standing against the wall the next. _"Chroma's so they did come prepared."_ He watched as the group of Talons passed by the four fake Talons without even paying them mind. _"I was right, they were aces."_ He waited for a few more seconds to pass before acting.

One of them then turned to the others wiping sweat from his brow. "That was close."

Kai was able to hear another of them speak up.

"Let's find us a Cabion."

"_Sounds like that's my cue."_ Kai pulled in his arms and legs and let gravity do the rest. The last thing he did was pull his goggles down so that his eyes could be seen. This was the only way he could think of proving he was not a Cyclonian. Since all the ones in the palace had red eye's. "Mind if I help?" Kai said as he landed in front of them.

End chapter 2

AN: Yea I know this one was short compared to the last one, but I couldn't think of any ways to extend it and still have it fit into MissDedodakes story Crystal Lights. Since Kai was only told that the Sky Knights had been captured, and not the plot about mind control, he was still under the impression that they were safe, well not "safe safe" but he didn't think they were in immediate danger. I'm kicking around some ideas about what the next chapter should be. Do your guys want to see more tie inns with other stories that Kai appeared in, or a kickback to the old days when he lived with the Interceptors?"


	3. Shadow of the Ancients

Broken Wing

Black Light of the Shadow Crystal, Birth of the New Scion!

Part 1: Shadow of the Ancients

Welcome to the third chapter of Broken Wing. I hope you enjoyed the last two chapters as much as I did. I have decided it is time to finally start explaining a few things about Kai, namely the Shadow crystal. The next three chapters will explain it a bit more, where it came from, what it does, and as usual I will try to have some tie inns with the series. Now pay attention because I will say this only once. There is a connection between Master Cyclonis and Kai. They are not related in any way, but they are tied to one another. I hope you all enjoy this chapter; I've had the idea for awhile now but wanted to establish Kai as a character before diving into his past.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, also I don't own A&W, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

"Come on please!" Kai was on his hands and knees facing the ground. "How am I going to get any better if I don't get any experience?!" Kai was begging, something that he hated to do, but would if it suited him.

Which in this case, did.

"Kai, I already explained this to you. We are going to an unknown Terra, we have no idea what will be there waiting for us, it could be a trap for all we know." Starling was exasperated; the boy was becoming more and more stubborn each year, and unfortunately for her, his arguments were becoming more and more sound.

"All the more reason. Its safely inside our borders, and I need hands on experience if I'm going to get any stronger. Besides I can handle myself you know, it's not like a talon or two would be a problem for me, I can give you a decent workout after all." Kai, was tired. He was not a member of the Interceptors, but he was in training, yet Starling would never let him accompany them on any missions. He was in his sixth year of training, fourteen years of age, and itching for a good fight.

"More than likely it will be a simple survey mission to see if the Terra can support life. Boring stuff, taking notes, samples, and the like." Starling had hoped the boy would quit after hearing that it would more than likely be a boring errand more than a mission.

"An even better reason for me to come along, since you seem so sure that it's safe. I want to help you guys, but if you keep holding me back I'll never be of any use. I promise I'll keep quiet and follow your orders to the T." Playing his last card, Kai frowned and started to walk away. "Fine, I guess I'll just sort all your mission reports…again."

Sigh

"Ok, you can come along, but I expect you to follow my orders, I will not have you jumping headfirst into some firefight ok?" She knew that she was going to regret this, she didn't know how, she just did.

"Sweet! I'll be back in a second!" Kai ran back into the building and returned in just a few seconds with a backpack strapped to his back, and a slight change in clothing.

"Where did you get that?" Starling pointed at the armor the boy was now warring.

"I made it myself. Tempered steel is hard to come across, but with all the talons you guys shot down last week, I had more than enough." He could hear some of the other guys snickering behind Starling, but he didn't care.

"Like I said, if you come with us, you have to follow my orders, is that understood." Starling was in her commander mode again.

Giving her a sharp salute and standing at attention, Kai answered. "Sir yes sir!" This of course caused an uproar from the guys, and a groan from Starling.

"It's a shame that the only person around here that treats me with the respect my position garners is not even a part of my own squadron. You four could learn a thing or two from him." Starling had a small grin on her face as she heard the laughing suddenly stop. Hopping on the Red Streak and revving it up, she slid forward in her seat slightly. "Well come on! We have to reach this place before sundown, or we'll never find the thing."

Jumping onto the now familiar skimmer, Kai held for dear life. _"Star might act calm on the ground, but she flies like a psycho, I wonder how she ever passed her license test the way she fly's."_

Three hours past, and Starling noticed an odd sound coming from behind. _"Is that humming?" _Sure enough Kai was still smiling, just as he had been for the entire trip. "How are you still in such a good mood?"

"Simple, this is the first time I've been away from Terra Mesa in a long time. You guys don't take me anywhere, and when I practice flying its always just loops around the Terra. It gets old real fast." Kai replied.

Two more hours past and the group finally arrived at the Terra. It was average size, smaller then Mesa, but still big enough for a town of two. But the terrain was bad for any form of base or air field, you'd have to dive off the side just to get enough speed for a skimmer to fly.

"Ok you two, set up camp, I want you two on scout detail, find out if this place has any natives, and for you to find out if there is any source of water on this rock. Kai you and me will check the area for any signs of crystal deposits." The five men nodded and went off to do their duties. Starling pulled a crystal scope from her skimmer's side pack, and Kai pulled one from his backpack.

"Um Kai, where did you get that? Starling asked looking at the device he held in his hands.

"I made it myself; it has a wider range then the issued models, and can even tell the power level of anything in the area." Kai beamed with pride at his new toy.

"Let's just see if there is anything on this rock. Come on, and stick close." Starling called out as she went into the dense jungle.

The two traveled for roughly an hour, but there were no deposits that could be detected. The Terra itself was a death trap to anyone not in triathlon shape. Tree roots the rose five feet from the ground, low hanging vines, and sudden sheer drops made the pace a slow one. But the strangest thing was the complete lack of life; the entire Terra was as silent as a graveyard.

"Star, I don't like this." For the past hour, Kai had been getting the chills, something about this Terra just wasn't right. It had been setting off his weirdar since landing.

Stopping, Starling turned to look at Kai. "What do you mean?" Starling like any other person with military training knew that a person's instinct was generally very accurate, and she had long ago accepted that Kai seemed to be a bit more in tune with his surroundings than she was. But the main thing that caught her attention was the fact she had been feeling a bit off since arriving. Her gut told her something was wrong, very, very, wrong with this place.

"It's kind of weird, but this place, just feels cold. I think something bad happened here." Kai swallowed before continuing. "This place is just wrong, there are no animals living here, not even bugs, the plants are huge but there is no water, it just doesn't make sense." Kai was about to continue but hesitated.

"What else. Go on." Starling was now a few feet from Kai and placed her hands on his shoulder to reassure him.

"I know you're not going to believe me, but I think we're being followed, maybe not followed, but we are being watched. I can feel it, and I don't like it." Kai started to look around where they were. "I don't know, maybe I'm just nervous, or jittery or something. If anything comes up I'll let you know." Kai gave a forced smile before going back to scanning for any deposits. Starling however was now more than just a bit troubled.

"_I feel off, he feels almost frightened, I feel like something's wrong, he thinks we're being watched. I don't like this one bit. I think there is a reason this Terra is uninhabited, I've never seen a Terra completely devoid of life, even Cyclonia has some birds, but this place, it's like Kai said, either something terrible happened here, or something bad is still here."_ Turning in the direction Kai had walked, she decided to be a bit more cautious and keep an extra eye out for trouble.

Another hour later the two reached a sheer cliff face that rose several hundred feet. It looked almost like a section of mountain had been sliced away.

**Beep beep beep beep beep**

"Woah! Star check this out!" Kai called out.

Looking at the device for the first time up close. Starling noticed that it didn't just give the direction of detected crystals, but also gauged their power. When she saw the read out however she nearly fainted. "This thing must be off, there is no way it can be accurate." Lifting her own device she noted that hers was not detecting anything at all. "I think it needs a little more work, I'm not detecting anything."

"I tested this thing for a month, I even sent a second one to Piper, and she said it works perfectly fine. And I told you mine has more range, yours probably can't get a reading through all the the rock." Kai was hurt that his friend lacked faith in his gadget. He had spent quite a bit of time working on it.

"It might have better range, but according to this there's a second Aurora stone in that rock face, and that's just not possible." She was cut off from continuing however.

"And just why is that? The Aurora stone was found in a temple built by the Ancients, so why couldn't there be another like it? This Terra's on no map, and from what we have seen, is uninhabited. It could have been at one point." Before he could continue however they heard the engines of a large ship overhead.

Turning to look, they saw that it was a Cyclonian Battle cruiser, even worse it had flight escorts. Kai looked at Starling with wide eyes, doing a good impression of a skyfish. Starling however summed up their thoughts in three words.

"This is bad."

Turning she grabbed Kai and started to run back to the camp, the whole time praying that the others hadn't been found. The two ran and ran until the camp finally came into view. At the last second Starling shoved Kai to the ground as she barreled into the camp.

"What is going?" He then heard the sounds of fighting; he could hear screams and weapons fire. Then after a few minutes everything was silent. Not knowing if the coast was clear or not, Kai crept closer to the camp. What he saw made his heart freeze. There on the ground were the Interceptors, all five knocked out cold, and standing above them was a man wielding a double bladed energy sword. Kai recognized the man; any child over the age of six would as well. His short black hair was slightly cropped, and even from a distance you could tell his eyes were a burning red color.

"Is that the last of them?" A random talon asked.

"There were five skimmers, and from what our sources tell us, there are five members of the Interceptors. This is their Sky Knight, so yes, all of them are accounted for." As the man walked away he gave Starling a swift kick to the gut when he saw she was trying get back up.

"Is the area clear then Dark Ace?" Kai who was about to rush the man for hurting his friends stopped when he heard a young girls voice. Turning to see who the speaker was, Kai was shocked at what he saw. _"What the! She can't be any older than ten! Eleven tops, what's she doing here!"_ Looking the girl over Kai could tell whoever she was; she was of nobility just by the way she carried herself. Her hair was a dark purple color, almost black. She seemed to be extremely pale, almost to the point that Kai wondered if she was albino, but when he saw he eyes were a dark violet rather than red, he guessed she just spent most of her time indoors.

"Yes your highness, the area is secure, what do you wish to be done with them?" Dark Ace asked in a cold monotone voice.

"_Highness? Could she be Master Cyclonis's daughter? That must be it, but why is she all the way out here? I can't believe her father would just let her leave on her own whim." _He then looked back at the Dark Ace. _"But it's not like she didn't come without top notch bodyguards."_

"Bring them, who knows, they might prove useful." The small girl gave him the creeps. He didn't know why, but the girl was just scary.

Several talons gathered up the Interceptors and bound them up before heading back into the dense wood. A few moments later Kai could see a small craft launching and head towards the Battle cruiser's direction.

"_This is bad, this is bad bad bad. What am I going to do? I don't have any weapons, and I can't radio for help without alerting the Cyclonia'ns."_ Kai sunk to the ground, his back against a tree. He wouldn't cry, he swore to himself that he would never cry. But he could feel it coming. He was stuck, alone, on an uncharted Terra, with Cyclonian's, the Dark Ace to boot. Clinching his first Kai noticed movement out of the corner of his sight.

"Whose there!" Jumping up, he dropped into a defensive stance. But he didn't see anything, nor did he hear anything either. Looking around he saw it again, just out of the corner of his vision. Charging the movement Kai burst through the dense foliage. Again there was nothing. "Come out now, I'm not going to go easy on you, but if you surrender now, I'll make sure you at least get medical treatment." Kai was getting nervous. That bad feeling in his stomach had just gotten ten times worst. He knew that he was not alone. Then he saw it. It was a fair distance from him, but the outline was unmistakable. It was a woman, clad in what looked like robes. She was facing away from Kai though, and she appeared to be walking.

Running as fast as he could Kai reached where he had seen the woman, but she was gone. Vanished into thin air. Looking around Kai noticed what looked like the remains of a building. He started to walk towards it when he saw the back part of a pair of robes disappear behind one of the buildings walls. Following it he came to a sight that made his jaw nearly fall off. Sprawling before him was a city. Or rather what was left of one. It looked like it had been hammered into the ground, then father time had taken a bat to it for a couple of hundred years. But what instantly caught his eye was the massive building that stood at the end of the once great city. It was huge; he had never seen anything so big in his life. It rose hundreds of feet up, and the sides and top looked like the building had been carved from a mountain. _"That's it! This must be what me and Starling saw a few hours ago! But what we saw was the backside of it!"_ So absorbed in his thoughts Kai didn't hear the roaring engines of the Battle cruiser until it passed over him. _"Why would they come here? It's not like this Terra would be a good place to launch an assault, the closest Terra is Mesa, and that's closer to their borders. So why come all the way out here and risk being caught. Master Cyclonis's daughter especially."_ That's when it hit him, Kai felt his blood turn to ice. The conversation he had with Starling just a few hours earlier.

Flashback

"_And just why is that? The Aurora stone was found in a temple built by the Ancients, so why couldn't there be another like it? This Terra's on no map, and from what we have seen, is uninhabited. It could have been at one point." _

Flashback end

Kai dropped to his knees. "No. If the Cyclonian's get their hands on something as powerful as the Aurora stone, they could wipe the Sky Knights out for good." Kai ran back to the camp. He knew what he had to do, but it was going to be tricky. Checking the four guy's skimmers, he found the emergency S.O.S. signal box and flipped it on. He knew the frequency could not be detected by the Cyclonian's, it was one of the few they had not yet broken and decoded. He then hopped onto the Red Streak and fired up the engine. Revving it a few times he charged back to the city, hoping help would come soon, and praying that he would be able to do something to stall the Cyclonian's in the meantime.

End Chapter.

AN: I know, this one is a bit short, but I felt this was a good place to end it. You might have some questions now, but you will just have to wait until next chapter to see if they are answered. The next chapter is going to be my biggest trial yet. I'm going to try and explain something that has been hinted at throughout the series, something big. I hope you like it.


	4. The Darkest Day, The Brightest Night

Broken Wing

Black Light of the Shadow Crystal, Birth of the New Scion!

Part 2: The Darkest Day, The Brightest Night!

AN: Hello and welcome to part two of Kai's origin miniseries. There will be three parts total, so just one more chapter to go. I didn't know whether to make these a part of Broken Wing, or a stand alone series in of itself, but I decided to make it part of BW so that people that read future chapters will be able to understand some things. I hope that it isn't too bad, and I hope that I have improved since I started this story. Now I know the name is a bit of a cliché, but it is really important. This chapter will explain several statements of Master Cyclonis throughout the series. Through cryptic, she has said more about the world of Atmos then any other person in the series. Watching the first ten episodes with pen and paper in hand, I was able to get quite a bit of information out of her. Please enjoy what I hope to be my greatest chapter yet.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

Kai sped through the city at full throttle, ducking and weaving through the city's maze like streets dodging walls by mere inches. He could see several talons above him, they were circling like vultures. He was silently thankful the city had stone roads, or else his dust trail would have been seen a mile away. Every so often he would have to stop to avoid a passing patrol. Ha had noticed though that every time he would stop to wait, he would catch sight of the strange woman that had led him to the city, but he was never able to get a good look at her. At first he thought she was running from him, but after awhile he realized that she wasn't running from him, rather, she was leading him.

"_I just hope it isn't a trap. No normal person can even keep up with a skimmer, much less outrun it. I've got a bad feeling about this."_ Kai came to another stop when a group of six skimmers passed directly overhead. Kai froze, and sat perfectly still, hoping that he hadn't been seen. This of course was not to happen. The six turned around and opened fire.

"_I have to do something fast, if they call for help I'm screwed!" _Looking around for something that would help him, anything at all. He spied a large statue to his left. The statue was one of quite a few he had seen. All of then the same, each was a large dragon standing behind a person. And while each statue had a different person, the dragon was the same in each of them. Its claws were wrapped around the persons shoulders, wings spread out wide to the air, and the tail lay in a circle around the person's feet. But what gave him the hebe jebe's was the dragons head. The great long neck would be lowered to the level of the persons head, and the dragons eyes would be beside the person's. Thinking quickly Kai brought up the Red Tails energy cannon and fired at the feet of the statue. That's when something amazing happened.

The cannon shot stopped less than an inch from the statue. For a brief second it flashed a cobalt blue color. The dragons head then turned and look up to the sky, towards the incoming skimmers and left lose a barrage of black flames. At first Kai was horrified, believing that he had just inadvertently killed five men. Talons or not, he had no desire to kill them; he just wanted them out of his hair for awhile. But when the flames died down, he was able to see the skimmers still completely intact, their pilots however were in bad shape. Though not burned or scarred in any way, Kai noticed that their flying became erratic. They started firing randomly into the air in every direction. One of the men even jumped from his skimmer to the ground, landing in a large fountain of water. But the one thing they all had in common was that they were screaming in terror. Not even pausing to give the matter a second thought, Kai floored the skimmer to full speed.

"_What on Atmos was that?! This place is rigged with traps! Duh idiot, if it was built by the Ancients then it's bound to be dangerous. I need to get inside that temple and fast."_ He then saw the strange woman yet again. But instead of running from him, she looked like she was waiting for him. She was standing between two of the many statues that ran along the city's roads, but before he could call out to her she turned around and walked between them. A second later there was a blue flash, and she vanished.

"_Now what! I've been following a ghost all this time! Wait a minute; she was waiting for me at that spot. She wanted me to see her walk between those two statues, just like she wanted me to see what streets she was walking down. I hope I'm right, cause this would be a sucky time to be wrong."_ Kai floored the Red Streak and ran directly between the two statues. Sure enough there was a blue flash of light.

The next thing Kai could see was a wall directly ahead of him; slamming the breaks he stopped barely an inch from hitting it. Looking behind him, Kai saw another wall. Not an open street in a large city. "I knew it! This was a trap! Looking for a way out, Kai could see that three of the walls were rather close; the fourth however was nowhere to be seen. So he cut on the skimmers high beams and continued down the corridor. After a few minutes, he noticed that the walls were covered in odd carvings. Stopping to get a better look, he was able to see a large image of what appeared to be a map, but he didn't recognize any of the terra it was depicting. Stepping back to get a better look he counted five Terra's in all. Each of which were huge, larger then anything he had ever seen before. He then noticed that some of them looked like they were connected. Two of them on the left of the map were connected by what looked like a wedge of land jutting out of the top one. Two of the others, the largest by far, seemed to be connected by a land mass larger then any terra ever recorded. The smaller was under the larger, and connected by its upper right side. Only one of the Terra's seemed to be off on its own, the smallest. Continuing his way Kai saw many strange images. City's that spanned for what looked like miles and miles, buildings that were hundreds of feet tall. He could see strange vessels that seemed to fly, but had no wings or thrusters. He thought it was strange that they had what looked like bed sheets running from the deck up a large pole in the center of the ship.

"I don't have time to sight see." Kai continued down the hall until it came to a drop. Stopping he dismounted and was about to drop a glow stick to see how far down the floor was, when the room was lit up by a thousand torches. Quickly he dropped down to his stomach. He was glad too, for a few seconds later a large number of talons entered the room, followed by the Dark Ace, the young girl, and finally several cages, each Kai could see, holding one of the Interceptors, all of them were still unconscious.

"_Great, things just went from bad to worse. What is going on here, who was that woman? And why did she lead me to this place."_ Looking around Kai was able to tell very quickly that this was the inner sanctum of the temple, the place where only the highest of priest and priestess would be allowed to enter. The walls were littered with more carvings, all of which depicted a large dragon. But these were different. Unlike the statues these were colored. Kai could see that the dragon had dark black scales, and its eyes were a dark blue color. He also noticed that, in each of the pictures the dragon seemed to be fighting something. In some of them it was another dragon, quite a few of them depicted it fighting army's, and even one showed it fighting a phoenix. It was becoming increasingly easy for Kai to figure out what it was. _"This beast, this dragon must have been the city's protector. That's why there were all those statues and carvings of it. It must have protected the people of this city. But what happened? I've read rumors that dragons have been sighted every now and then, but I always thought it was just a bunch of drunken sailor talk. They really must have existed at one time."_ Looking up again Kai could see the talons were spreading around through the room. Each carried a search light and were shining it along the walls or ceiling. _"Snap! Did they hear me or see me?!"_

"I want it found. We must have the key to enter the final chamber. But alert me as soon as you find it, DO NOT TOUCH IT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!" The small girl bellowed.

"Your highness, there is no guarantee that what you seek even exist. And even if it did at one time, there is a good chance that it was looted by now." The Dark Ace responded in his usual calm tone.

"You saw the number of talons that we lost just getting to this room? None of those traps had been activated until today. I doubt that anyone would have been able to get through all of them without setting off a single one, much less reach the chamber of light and remove the stone without dieing." The small girl replied.

"_Ok that girl, I seriously don't like. She talks about losing soldiers like someone would a coin. How can anyone so young be that heartless?!"_ In the back of his mind though, the comment about making it through all the traps did raise his interest, after all he had made it inside without a scratch, and from here he could see that even the Dark Ace had taken a rather nasty slice to his left arm. It was bandaged, but the angry red seeping through told Kai the cut was deep. _"There's a good chance that it sliced clean to the bone. If that were the case, the muscles might never heal."_ His train of thought was broken by a sudden outcry.

"Hey! I found it!" All the room's occupants turned towards the talon that had called out. He was standing in the middle of the room, his search light pointing straight up at the ceiling.

Craning his neck Kai was able to get a good look at what the man was pointing to. It was a good distance away, but it looked like a dragon's claw sticking out of the ceiling and pointing downwards.

"Fancy that, I guess my little gift to you will prove useful after all. Dark Ace, I need for you to give me a boost." The small girl said as she turned towards the older man.

"Of course your highness." The Dark Ace walked foward until he was under what the young girl had called "the key" and waited for a moment. The small girl threw off the robe she had been warring, revealing a leather padded combat suit. She quickly walked up to the man and turned away from him.

"_I know the Dark Ace is strong, but I don't think that is in a physical sense, and I doubt she can reach that thingby standing on his shoulders, and I know that he can't throw her that far. What are they planning?"_ Kai's question was answered when seconds later wings sprouted from the man's back and a booster rocket fired, lifting the two towards the ceiling. A few seconds later they were hovering directly below it. The young girl reaching up and grabbing two of the claws and pulling as hard as she could.

"Your highness, I can't sustain flight for much longer, let go. We can return with the proper equipment to handle this. We have found it, it's not going anywhere." The man said as the rocket on his back begins to sputter.

The small girl cut him a scathing glare. When his rocket ran out she kicked him in the face so that he let go of her. "I will handle this on my own then." The man's face showed shock. He quickly rolled over and glided to the floor below.

As soon as he landed he looked around for the young girl, only to see her nowhere. "Your highness! Where are you?!" He looked around franticly.

"I'm still up here you oaf!" Looking up the group could see the small girl dangling from the ceiling. "Wait a second! I think I figured it out!" The girl pulled her tiny form into a ball, curling her legs up until her feet rested on the ceiling. Then she stopped pulling, and turned the claw.

"AHH!"

She dropped about six inches from the ceiling before stopping. The Dark Ace looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"DON'T YOU DARE FALL!" He bellowed out. The small girl looked at the ground.

"I won't. Not when I'm this close." Swinging her legs a few times, she swung them up to the ceiling and again placed her feet on the marble tiles. "It won't budge! I think it's stuck!" She called down.

The Dark Ace let his gaze fall to the ground for a second before returning it to the girl's small form. "Try turning it in the opposite direction! It might be like a combination lock!" He shouted.

"AHH!"

The girl dropped a little farther this time, and the Dark Ace grew a few more grey hairs. "It worked! But it still won't come down. I think there are a few more turns left in this thing!" Swinging her legs back up to the ceiling she turned it back the other way. "AHH!" This time it dropped a considerable distance before stopping. The small girl was painting trying to catch her breath.

Kai meanwhile was watching with only mild interest, he was more worried about whatever this group had come for, and how he was going to help his friends. There had to be at least twenty talons in the room, including the Dark Ace. He might have been a match for two or three, but he was no match for Dark Ace, even if the man was injured. He doubted that the Interceptors together could do anything. So Kai did the only thing he could, wait and watch. _"That little girl is impressive though, she must go through the same training regimen I do. She's in almost as good shape as I am, and she's what ten? She's going to be trouble, I know it."_

The small girl was now facing a problem. After three rotations, the "key" was now hanging a little more than four feet from the ceiling. The problem was that she was only four feet tall, and could no longer reach the ceiling with her legs to turn the thing.

"Ace! We have a slight problem! I'm open to any suggestions!" She called out.

Thinking for a second the man turned up to look at the girl. "Can you pull yourself up the pole? He called out.

The small girl hung there limp for a second before answering. "I think so! Why?"

"If you can pull yourself up, then you can use your hands the way you have been using your feet. But make sure you are holding tight with your legs! That thing seems to drop fast, and you don't have a glider in case you fall!" He shouted to small girl.

Kai watched as she reached up with one hand and grabbed higher up on the pole. She then reached up with her other hand. As soon as she was a little more than half way up she wrapped her thighs and legs around the pole. Then reaching up with her hands she pushed herself around until it dropped again.

"AHH!"

The small girl was starting to shake, but Kai could hardly blame her, he would be a mess right now if he tried to do what she was doing. After repositioning herself she turned it again, dropping further. But this time there was no squeal or squeak; she just shimmied up higher on the pole and twisted it in the opposite direction.

For a second, a look flashed across the Dark Aces face, a look the Kai had seen on a few rare occasion from Starling.

It was pride.

"_He must be her instructor. Even from up here I can see how proud he is of her. I wonder if it's like that with all teachers."_

_Click_

The floor began to tremble, and most of the talons were falling to the ground. After a few seconds a round platform rose from the floor up to where the young girl was hanging. For a brief second Kai thought that she must have activated a trap. But he noticed that it stopped a few feet below where she was hanging. A few seconds later it lowered to the ground, and there, standing with what appeared to be a seven foot long staff was the little girl. The Dark Ace rushed to where she was standing.

But before he could speak she turned towards the back of the room. Lifting the staff she pointed it towards the wall, and a beam of black light fired from its tip. The wall shimmered for a brief second before disappearing completely. The small girl stepped forward and walked through the new doorway, but as the men tried to follow her, they were stopped by a wall of black energy. This surprised even her and prompted her to hit the wall several times with the staff before the Dark Ace stopped her.

"We cannot follow you any further your highness! The barrier must only allow one person to enter. You will have to find another way out!" He yelled. She nodded before heading deeper into the temple.

Kai looked around, trying to see how he could get past the barrier; he could see no way to get past it. It was then that he felt two arms wrap around him from behind, and a second later everything went white. When the flash died down Kai found himself in a dark room with no light, but he could make out the sound of approaching footsteps. A few seconds later the room was lit with torches that covered the walls; there standing at the door way was the small girl. Who thankfully, didn't see him; she was preoccupied reading something along the wall.

"The dragons nest huh? I expected it to be more than this." She placed the tip of the staff into a hole in the wall and turned it several times. Moments later the room went completely black, and rumbling could be heard.

When Kai was able to stand again, he could see that a doorway had appeared in one of the walls leading to yet another chamber. But two things caught his attention. One was the eerie purplish lights coming from the room. The second was the loud thumping sound that filled his ears.

_Thump Thump_

_Thump Thump_

_Thump Thump_

"_If I didn't know any better, I would say that was a heartbeat. But what on Atmos could have a heartbeat that loud?"_ Kai was about to step forward when he remembered something. _"She was trained by the Dark Ace, and has a staff that can fire projectile attacks. I need something more than just my body if I'm going to fight her."_ Looking around, Kai saw that the Red Streak had been warped to the room as well. He quickly pulled off the two wing mounted shields and put his arms through the leather strips. _"It's not much, but it's better than nothing."_ Kai then ran towards the room.

When he arrived he nearly fell flat on his face. The room, was in a word, huge. It could easily hold a carrier, Kai was sure that a pair of aces could have a decent dogfight in it with little trouble. But the beating sound was so loud that it hurt. Looking around he could see the girl was walking towards a large engraving. It covered the entire wall, and seemed to absorb any light that was in the room. The carving was the black dragon. But in the center of the carving was a black crystal, slightly smaller than average. But what really caught his attention was how it seemed to pulsate with a purplish grey light.

_Thump Thump_

_Thump Thump_

_Thump Thump_

The sound was deafening, he didn't just hear it, he could actually feel it. That's when things went bad. He could see the girl pull out a crystal from a small pouch on her side, and place it onto the end of the staff. When it touched, the top three claws closed into a vice grip around the stone.

"Today will mark the rebirth of Cyclonia, the fall of the Sky Knights, and, my rise to power." She then trusted the staff at the black crystal, firing a beam of white light. As soon as it struck the crystal, the rooms natural light went from purplish black to a dark crimson color. The sound of the hearts beats grew faster, almost frantic, and the girl herself seemed to glow with a dark purple aura.

Out of the corner of his eye Kai once again saw movement. It was the woman he had followed. He could see that she was in pain, but he couldn't even reach her. She seemed to be inside the wall itself. Then she looked up, and for the first time, Kai could see her eyes. They were a dull gold color, and the pupils looked almost like they were slits. She seemed to be mouthing something. He couldn't understand the words, but the pain on her face made it clear.

_Stop her!_

Rushing forwards Kai slammed one of his two shields into the girls back knocking her to the ground and forcing her to drop her staff.

She quickly scrambled up and retrieved her weapon. "How dare you! You think you can stop me you trash!" The girl began attacking wildly with the clawed staff. Kai ducked and weaved around the strikes as best he could, and managed to block the ones that he couldn't.

"_This girls amazing! It's exactly like fighting Starling, but how can she be this good. Even if the Dark Ace is her mentor, there is no way that her body should be able to fight this well, she's too young!" _Blocking a particularly nasty overhead smash knocked Kai to the ground with such force he dropped one of his shields. He quickly rolled backwards to put some distance between them before getting to his feet to dodge the crystal fire she sent his way. _"Great she must have armed that thing on the way down."_ Kai had no choice but to block the next shot and hope that the shield would hold.

The blast hit home, and Kai was thrown from the ground into the wall. The shield he had been using was reduced to hundreds of pieces of shrapnel.

"This is the end for you pest." Holding the staff back she fired another shot.

"_Looks like this is it."_ Kai had climbed to his feet just before the shot fired. He was surprised however when the girls face slipped from a grin to a fearful expression.

"Don't you dare touch that!" She screamed.

Not knowing what the girl was screaming about Kai felt his back touch something, something hard. Turning he saw that he was standing in front of the black colored crystal. _"What have I got to lose?"_ Right before the blast hit him, his fingers touched the crystal.

Opening his eyes, Kai was surprised to find himself still standing, and, apparently, still in one piece. Turning around he saw an angry glowing red orb less than a foot from his face.

"Whoa!" When Kai turned to see the crystal, he saw something even stranger. His hand, still over the spot where the crystal once was. Not just his hand, but his entire body was still there. Looking down he noticed that his hands were slightly translucent. "What is going on here?"

"That is a very good question child."

Kai heard a loud booming voice, but couldn't tell where it had come from. Looking around he noticed that the crystal was no longer in the wall.

"**Who are you? And why have you trespassed into my domain?" **The voice boomed.

"My name is Kai, and I had no intention of trespassing." He called out.

"**Is that why you have been snooping around my territory for the last day? Because you had no intention of trespassing? What else would you call it?"** The voice was beginning to sound more than just a little agitated.

"We didn't know this Terra was your territory. We came to investigate it to see if it was suitable for colonization. I only just found the city's ruins an hour ago." Kai was cut off.

"**Ruins! What ruins? And what is this Terra you speak of?"** The voice thundered.

_Boom_

_Boom_

Turning around slowly, Kai saw the huge carving on the wall, was no longer a carving. It was real. Kai was now staring at a real life, honest to God, dragon.

The great beast reared its head back for a moment before leaning forward. Its snout resting just a few inches from his face.

"**I will not repeat myself again child. What ruins do you speak of?"** All Kai could focus on were the dragons large teeth. But he was determined to answer the beasts question as best he could.

"The ruins that surround this temple. I had just found them a few hours ago, and I didn't even find them, I was led to them by some woman." At the mention of the woman Kai ran to the wall he had seen her inside of. Sure enough there she was lying on the floor gasping for breath.

"Hey are you alright?" Rolling the woman over so he could see her face, Kai was shocked to see that she now looked much, much older than when he had first seen her.

Her tired golden eyes opened and saw Kai's face for just a moment before closing. A second later her body turned to black crystal shards and shattered into dust.

_Boom_

_Boom_

_Boom_

"**WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SCION?!"** The dragon's voice boomed.

Kai, startled out of his stupor by the booming voice, tried his best to speak. "I didn't do anything! She led me here! She guided me through the city, she warped me twice! I didn't do anything but follow her! I swear!" If anyone asked, Kai would tell them at that moment he was scared witless, but the truth was that he was so far beyond scared that there wasn't even a word for it.

The dragon lowered its head to Kai's level, and then, something happened. He didn't even know what it was. One second he thought the dragon was going to eat him, or torch, then eat him. The next moment the dragons gone and the entire room was filled with a thick blanket of black fog.

"WHATS GOING ON!" Kai tried to run, but he felt arms holding onto his legs, he tried to pull free, but his arms wouldn't budge. _"This stinks, of all the ways to go. Why couldn't I have just have let the little girl blast me? It would have been more dignified then suffocating because some dragon thought I killed its scion, whatever that is."_

After a few moments the fog started to pull away from his body, he could feel the hold on his arms and legs loosen enough that he could run. But as he watched the fog began to circle faster and faster, condensing into a single small point. And then it just vanished. Stepping through where the fog had been was a familiar person.

"Star!" Kai began running towards her but before he reached her he felt the same heaviness as he had earlyer. "You've got to help me out! There's this dragon in here, he's trying to kill me!" Before he continued however, Kai noticed that something was wrong.

"You're not Starling." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"That is correct child. And I should correct you on another matter, the dragon is not a "he" rather it is a "she", and lastly she, happens to be me." The voice sounded the same, the face and body looked the same, but the hair was several shades darker, and the eyes were a dark blue, rather than the familiar shade of forest green. "Now that I have seen your memories, I believe you. It seems that, things have changed a great deal since I last was awoken." Her face then scrunched. "And it appears that my powers have diminished quite a bit as well."

"Ok I'm glad you're not going to kill me, but I don't have time to stick around. There's this crazy girl trying to kill me and I need to get out of the way…err I need to get my body out of the way…. Where exactly are we?"

The pseudo Starling let out a dry chuckle. "Your mind is in the domain of my crystal. Do not fear the girl, time does not move in this place. However, I never said that I wouldn't kill you." She was now flashing a dangerous grin.

"What are you talking about? Why would you kill me? I've done nothing wrong!" Kai was scared, he knew that even though it might have looked like his friend, he would stand even less of a chance against this dragon then he would have against the real Starling.

"Simple. I find myself needing a scion. My previous one has died, and you're the only one here that can fill in that role." The dragon strode its way over to Kai, who was still unable to even move, no matter how much he wanted to.

"But, but what if I don't want to?" He asked as quickly as he could.

The dragon stopped dead in its tracks. "That has never happened before. To become a dragon's scion is one of the greatest privileges a mortal can have. Besides I don't think you want to turn this offer down." The dragon said, now with a smug grin plastered on Starlings face.

"Oh and why not?" Kai tried to summon all his courage, but quickly found that there was none left for him to summon. He could almost hear the dial tone saying that the line had been disconnected, and to try his call again later.

"Because, if I eject your mind back into your body as it is now, you will have zero chance of dodging the blast that's about to remove your head. Also, you will have no chance of saving you friends." The dragons grin just got larger and larger.

"Fine. I'll do it, but tell me, who are you?" Kai asked looking up into the dragons face.

The dragon closed its eyes for a moment. "I have no name; I never have, and never will. I have been around for thousands of years, before the world became what it is now."

At this Kai quirked an eyebrow, causing the dragon to laugh.

"Many many years ago, the world was a much different place. There were no terras; rather, they were called continents, and they covered what you call the wastelands. Also, most of the planet was covered with water. That all changed when humans discovered the potential power of crystals."

"What do you mean? What changed?" Kai asked not liking where this was going.

At this the dragon sighed. "Humans have been at war for countless centuries, but they were always limited by the resources that were available at the time. They depended on the fossilized remains of long dead creatures to burn as fuel, but when they discovered the potent, and unlimited power that crystals provided. Things changed. Where they were once able to destroy cities, they could now destroy entire land masses with ease. Every nation was rushing to develop its own supper weapons, in order to scare the others from attacking. And then it happened."

Kai felt a lead weight drop in his stomach. "What happened?"

"Someone blinked. Nobody knows who fired first, but one by one they went off, each breaking up the planet a little more each. Those weapons are responsible for what you call the world of Atmos, the kingdom of a thousand mountains."

"What did these weapons do? I mean, how could something be capable of destroying an entire landmass?"

The dragon gave a rueful smile. "You would be surprised at what you humans are capable of when you put your minds to it.

Flashback to roughly four thousand years ago

"It has begun. The end of our world as we know it." The great black dragon watched from inside its crystal. Watching as a thousand points of light rained down upon the planet's surface, breaking up the crust itself. This was the first, and only time that the great beast could remember in its life time, that the night sky had become brighter than it ever had during the day.

"What will happen?" A young woman asked. She, like several others were inside the domain of the crystal, and thus spared from the harsh conditions that rocked the world.

Looking down the dragon could only shake its head. "I don't know. All we can do is watch, wait, and see."

Flashback end

"It was the darkest day in the history of man; the entire planet was falling apart." The dragon breathed in deeply, trying to remember more, but was unable.

"What happened?" Kai asked. Trying to keep himself together. Finding out your entire world is the byproduct of a colossal war has that effect on a person.

"I don't remember….It's like….there are gaps in my memory. Something is wrong; my powers are too greatly diminished for it to merely be the passage of time. What happened when you arrived here, just before you touched the crystal?" The dragon that was still in the form of Starling asked.

"I don't know. When I arrived she was firing some kind of white beam at your crystal. Then I smacked her, we fought, and now I'm here." Kai answered.

After thinking for what seemed a few minutes the dragons eyes widened. "She must be using a Siphoning crystal. They were extremely rare in my time, but now, that must be the last one in existence."

"What do you mean last one? Can't another one be made?" Kai had heard of unique crystals before, but now that he had learned a little bit about the past, he also was starting to form a few theories about what those crystals were.

"It would have been possible back in my time, but you do not have the technology required to make them anymore. Some of those crystals and machines required elements and minerals that no longer exist in order to be made. Plus I doubt that anyone alive has the knowledge to use a Soul crystal anymore form them to be of any use." The dragon said.

"Soul crystals? What are those?" Kai asked confused.

"You know of several, but by different names. The Aurora stone, Oracle stone and my crystal were all at one time Soul crystals. They were used to trap powerful beings so that they could be used for energy, or to prevent them from harming people. But they have not been made, or used since four thousand years before the Great War."

Kai looked at the dragon for a moment before asking one last question. "What would happen if I were to become your scion?"

The dragon turned and smiled at the boy. "You would be given access to a portion of my powers, and memories, those that remain that is. You will also become slightly stronger, faster; your senses would become sharper. All around you would become a stronger and better fighter."

"So what's the catch? I know there must be a down side to this, no way it's free." Kai said crossing his arms.

"You are correct. To become a dragons scion, is to become a guardian of the living, the dead will no longer be of your concern. Also you will have to deal with the mentality of a dragon, keep that in mind." When she said this she noticed the boy's confused face. "It means you will have certain tendencies you will need to be mindful of. A shorter, and much more intense temper, a loner type personality, eagerness to fight, that sort of thing. Not so different from the species you call Raptors." The dragon explained.

"What do I have to do? Beat you in a fight or something?" Kai asked feeling a sense of dread.

"No nothing like that, if it had been, then I never would have had a single scion. Make no mistake, I might be in the form of your friend, but I am just as strong in this form as my true one. To pass, I merely need to take a little peak in your head and see what makes you tick." The dragon began to advance on Kai's form.

"I thought you already looked at my memories. Why would you need to see them again?" Kai was more than a bit nervous. He didn't like the thought of anyone poking around in his mind, much less twice.

"Yes, I did look at your memories. I have seen what you have done in your life child. But I did not look to see your motives or the reasons for your actions. I need to see why you do the things you do, not just what you do. If your intentions are noble then you shall become my next scion."

"And if they are not exactly noble?" Kai was pretty sure that his reasons were noble, but he wanted to know just in case.

"If they are not, then you shall become my next…meal." At the word meal she snapped her jaws for added affect.

_Gulp_

"I promise this will not hurt a bit, unless, well, you know." The dragon reached up a single hand and placed it on the side of Kai's face.

A few moments later the dragon retracted her hand. "Well, your reason is noble, not quite as broad as I would have hoped, but given what is happening outside of this realm however I'll give you a few extra points."

"You were grading me?" Kai didn't know if he should feel relieved or insulted.

"As I said, your reason is noble, but I would prefer it to be a bit wider spread then focused on a single individual." _"He was protective before. May the egg have mercy on anyone he feels to be a threat now."_ Shaking her head the dragon took a step back. "Two things you need to be aware of, the first is that the young girl you are fighting has absorbed nearly three fourths of my power. She will be much stronger then you, so you will not be able to defeat her in a straight up fight."

"Is there any way to take back your power?" Doing the math, Kai didn't like the prospect of fighting someone that was not only three times stronger than himself; but someone who was also apparently better trained, and finally, unlike himself, was actually armed.

"I am afraid not. A siphon crystal drains other crystals in the same manner as what you call lechers. While some crystals like a Solaris or Lunar can be recharged, a Soul crystal cannot. You will have to make do with one forth of my power." The dragon seemed only slightly dejected over the permanent loss of so much power. Kai couldn't but help but wonder why.

"Why aren't you like, really mad? If I were in your shoes I'd be royally ticked off."

"Oh I am angry. But I am also several thousand years old. I realized a long time ago that I have no choice but to accept what I am. My powers have been waning for quite some time, but there is nothing that can be done about it. This too is something you too must learn. Sometimes things happen, things you have no control over, and can do nothing to about. Other times, you must allow things to happen, even if they hurt you. But enough talk, you need to fight boy! Oh and one last thing you need to know." The dragon grinned as she pushed Kai backwards to his body.

"DUCK!"

The second that he had regained control over his body, that was exactly what he did, and not a moment too soon. Directly where his head once was, a nasty black scorch mark now resided.

"How did you dodge that?" The small girl seemed shocked.

Kai turned to look at the young girl and grinned. When his eyes opened, she knew instantly that something had changed. She was unsure what color the boy's eyes had been, but she was sure that they were not a dull gold color.

"What? That? Oh that was easy. Fighting you on the other hand? Is going to be fun."

AN: So what did you think? I wanted to come up with a plausible reason for how Master Cyclonis got all those cool abilities of hers. No other person in the series has shown the ability to fly without wings or crystals other than her, also there's the black glowie thingie that she does, and the layered voice she has whenever she gets seriously peeved. Then add to that she has the power to change the structure and type of a crystal, and the power to stop small attacks with little effort, and even shield herself from larger ones like Aerrows Lightning Claw no problem. The big thing though, is the storm engine from the first and second episodes. She remarked that "Storms created the Terra's, and storms would wipe them clean." She also _called_ the machine a storm engine; she didn't _name _it like she did the enhancer crystals. So that leads me to believe that at least one had existed at some point in time before, she just built another one. Now for those of you that might think that Kai is become sueish. Keep in mind, he is only a fourth as powerful as Master Cyclonis, she has everything he does and quite a bit more. As far as levels are concerned, Kai is around Aerrows level, but lacks any form of luck, and has no team to back him up. So his total effectiveness is roughly a fifth of the Storm Hawks. Not an uber by a long shot. As for the cruddy past, like I said earlier, this is a world at civil war. It's not pretty, and there are often times more than just a few casualties. The show to a degree makes light of that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I have been thinking it up for quite awhile. The show has made a few hints that Atmos could indeed be Earth in the distant future. Personally I hope skimmers are around in my life time. It'd be a whole new type of fun. Till next time, Ja Ne!


	5. The Clashing of Dragons

Broken Wing

Black Light of the Shadow Crystal, Birth of the New Scion!

Part 3: The Clashing of Dragons!

AN: Hello and welcome to the third and final part of Kai's origin miniseries. This is a very important chapter, as it markes the beginning of another series I will be writing called: The One Year Flight. Broken Wing will continue for quite some time. I have the final chapter already written, but I won't be posting it for a very, very long time. The One Year Flight will be a series centered around Kai from starting at the end of this chapter until and lasting until he is a little around fifteen. I decided that if I wanted Kai to develop as a character, he would need to see more of the world then just Terra Mesa. He needs some time to stretch his wings and learn to fly. Now before anyone asks this series title IS Broken Wing, there is a reason for it, but more than likely it's not what you're expecting. The title comes from a particular line in a super hero movie from around ten years ago. I'm not going to give any more hints about that, but if you know what the movie is, the line that followed "Broken Wings" is extremely important in regards to this series, and how it will end. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and will continue to read my series. Onward! READ!

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal, two Storm Hawks DVD's and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

The first thing that was running through the young girls mind was that this kid was going to be trouble.

"_How did he dodge my shot when it was that close? He should have died the instant he touched the gem, but he didn't, and he even managed to dodge my shot. Hmm. Maybe he could prove useful."_ "Tell me, who are you? You wear no squadron colors, nor do you have an insignia. You're too young to be a Sky Knight. What are you doing on this Terra?"

"_She's trying to size me up. She knows that the rules have changed. She must be wondering if I was able to dodge her shot, what else I can do." _Looking the girl over Kai noticed some slight changes from earlier. Her eyes and hair were several shades darker, and her arms and legs looked slightly thicker. _"That's right; she absorbed most of the crystals energy. Man this is bad; she was mopping the floor with me earlier, now she's gotten a boost. I'll have to bluff my way as long as I can."_ "You are correct. I am no part of a squadron, nor am I a Sky Knight. _"Let's see how gullible she is."_ "I am the current scion of the black dragon. You are trespassing, and I would appreciate it if you would leave now. Take your men with you and vacate the premises." _"Not a complete lie."_

The young girl gave him the once over. Her eyes seemed to be taking in every detail of his form. "Why would I do that? You proved to be a very poor opponent in our last match." Her tone was a perfect blend, condescending and sarcastic.

"It has been some time since I last had to fight. I guess you could say I needed to get my air legs back." Kai grinned putting on his best poker face.

"You are good, I'll give you that. For a second I almost believed you. But the last scion of the black dragon was a woman, and I do not believe you to be one. You would however make a very nice addition to my talons. Why don't you join us? I can promise you the third position within my ranks. Even make you the head of your own squadron." As she spoke, she silently pulled her staff around behind her back, ready to fire again.

"I have no intention of joining Cyclonia. And why would I want to serve under someone that is at least four years younger than myself?"

"Oh well. Good talent is so hard to find these days." Pulling her staff around she fired the solid white beam at Kai, being so close he was unable to dodge.

"Now I just need to extract the last of…what's going on? Why isn't it working?" Though the beam had hit dead center, it had no effect, other than hurting his eyes slightly.

"_Of course, she said a siphon crystal only worked on crystals. It wouldn't work on a living person!"_ Kai smiled as he charged the girl and began his assault. Starting with a series of lightning fast hooks and jabs, Kai managed to force the girl back and out of the room.

Not to be outdone, the girl dropped to one knee and tried to perform a sweeping kick. Kai jumped over it and slammed his elbow down trying to hit the back of the girls head. The girl dodged by leaning forward and hitting Kai in the face with the heel of her foot knocking his face upwards.

"_Good grief, this girl's fast. How much time does she spend training?" _Kai looked up in time to see the girl's stunned expression.

"Seven hours a day." Her expression was one filled with shock. _"What is happening?"_

"_I can hear her thoughts?"_ Kai was starting to get a little freaked out.

"_I can hear his thoughts?"_ The young girl was trying to wrap her mind around what was going on, but didn't have the time as Kai used the chance to charge and start another assault.

Kai started his renewed assault with a round rouse kick that the girl easily ducked under. She retaliated with a dual palm strike to his torso, knocking him to the ground. Touching off with one hand, Kai charged again, going for a faint attack. The girl saw this, evaded his fist by turning to the side, and then dodged the actual attack, another round house kick by bending backwards. Bringing her hands to the ground, the girl thrust her body backwards into a handstand, raising one hand to her side she then fell to the left dodging Kai's elbow while at the same time hitting his shin with her unused fist.

"_Ah! Man, I don't know how much more of this I can take. She's like trying to hit water!" _Kai yelled in his mind.

"Thanks for the compliment!" The girl threw series of high speed punches that Kai was barely able to parry. "You're not bad yourself." The girl smiled as she dodged another punch by bending backwards. This time though she dropped into a bridge stance and then a rear back spring, backflipping away from Kai while at the same time hitting his chin with both feet. "But you're not quite good enough." She smirked as she landed several hits to Kai's stunned form.

"Ok that's enough." Kai grabbed the girls arm and twisted it. She twisted around and tried to slam her elbow into his stomach, but he blocked it with his other hand. He didn't expect her to slam her heal into his foot however. "AHH! What was that?" Kai jumped back away the girl.

"What I'm a little girl? It's what I do." The girl brought around her staff and fired several blasts which Kai was able to dodge. She then charged and continued her assault mixing her hand strikes and kicks with slashes and thrust from the clawed staff.

Kai blocked an open palm and ducked the staff slash the girl sent out. He then grabbed the leg she tried to kick him with and threw it back to the ground. Using the forward momentum he slammed her in the gut with his shoulder and knocked her to the ground. He tried to jump her so he could get a hold of her, but she rolled to the side and caught him in the stomach with the back of her heel.

Turning to face him, the girl charged again, this time dropping to the ground and sliding the last few feet. When Kai tried to sidestep the low kick he was tripped by a mid level swing from her clawed staff and knocked to the ground. He only had a second before he spotting the clawed staff being driven towards him, with the full intent of pinning him to the ground. "Whoa! Watch it!" Kai rolled from side to side as she stabbed at him again and again. Kai was vaguely aware that this must be how the poor moles felt at Terra Neon's arcade. Bringing his legs around in a dual sweep he tried to knock the girl down. Kai was not surprised in the least when she jumped over the kick; in fact he had planned it. Right when his legs passed under her form, he raised his left leg skyward and brought it snapping back like a cobra strike, kicking her in the squarely in the back, and knocking her several feet away.

"Ugh." The girls small form hit the ground hard. But not for long, she quickly got back up and reached for her staff, only to find it missing.

"Looking for this?" Kai held up her staff in one hand. "This is a very interesting toy." Spinning it around a few times he brought it around in front of himself and held it in both hands. "But I've gotten sick of this thing." Kai narrowed his eyes and brought the staff down fast slamming it on his knee, breaking it in half. Holing up the two pieces he then slammed them as hard as he could to the ground, shattering them into several pieces before jumping away from the now scrapped staff. _"Holy jeeze that hurt. I'll be limping for a week."_

"YOU IDIOT!" The girl rushed over to the pieces and fell to her knees. "You will pay for this with your life!" The girl's voice was overlaid with the dragons, and her body glowed with a sickly dark purple aura. Holding her hand out the broken pieces of the staff reformed in her hand.

"_Ok in my book that is a very, very, bad thing."_ Kai was looking around for a weapon, a shield, anything to block the incoming assault.

"Oh it's bad alright, bad for you!" The small girl's voice boomed throughout the room, causing it to shake. Lowering her now reformed staff, she fired blast after blast at Kai.

Kai was ducking and weaving trying to keep out of the blast way. _"This is way beyond bad. I have to stay on the ground. If I try jumping she'll fry me."_ Side stepping a rapid fire burst, Kai noticed a pause in the girls attack.

"Fry eh, that sounds like a good idea." Reaching up she grabbed the crystal on the end of her staff. There was a bright flash, and then the once blue colored crystal was now a flaming red. "Let's see how well you can **dodge this!**"

A torrent of flame sprouted from the end of the staff. Kai knew that there was absolutely no way that he could dodge the incoming torrent of fire. He could do nothing.

"_I'm sorry guys, Star, forgi."_ His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hit the deck!" The voice cried out from behind him.

The next thing Kai knew he had hit the ground and could feel a body land on top of him.

"You ok?" The voice asked.

Kai tried to see who the voice was, but he had hit his head on the ground so hard he knew he was going to black out. All he could see was the outline of several people attacking the young girl. Further down the hall he could hear even more shouting and several weapons firing.

"Your highness! The Sky Knights have found our location! I suggest an immediate withdrawal! The Dark Ace rushed in and stood back to back with the young girl.

"Agreed, the mission has been successful. ALL TALONS FALL BACK!" The Dark Ace scooped the girl up and took off down the corridor.

"What's going on?" Kai's field of vision was dimming, the last thing he could see was Starling lean over him with a pensive and concerned look on her face. Then everything went black. From the darkness, Kai was able to hear Starlings voice one last time before he slipped into the void.

"I'm sorry Kai. Please forgive me."

End Chapter

AN: Ok I know you must hate me for this, but I felt that this was the best place to end this chapter. This is in no way the end of the Broken Wing series. Especially since so many authors and authoresses have given me the go ahead to use their characters, and to tie in with their stories. I will be taking a break from the Broken Wing series for a while to start on the insert series One Year Flight. I hope the dragon scion bit isn't jumping the shark, but I wanted to make a character that has several sources of conflict in his life that are beyond his own control. As usual flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Look for the first chapter of my new story to be up…whenever I can get it typed and edited. So in the meantime enjoy the previous chapters and my other story posted by my bestest buddy Lane19, Total Drama Terra! Which should be up to chapter four by tomorrow. Till next time Ja Ne!


	6. Piper’s Ponders

Broken Wing

Broken Wing

Piper's Ponders

Hello and welcome to the newest chapter of Broken Wing. This particular chapter doesn't occur during any specified time period, other then it takes place sometime after the events of Crystal Lights. If you want to know what happened after last chapter, check out my other story title The One Year Flight. It is ongoing and currently up to chapter 3. Updates for all three of my stories will be whenever I can get around to them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

Shadow is the property of ShadowQueen25

Scarlett is the property of Loveflame

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Piper watched as their guest aided in the ransacking and utter pillaging of the Condor's fridge. Though they had known each other for at least seven years, she didn't actually _know_ him. Their paths had only crossed a few times, and most of those were during large scale missions or the occasional passing by. This was in fact the first time he had ever been on the Condor, but he seemed to fit in just fine with everyone.

Everyone that is except for her.

For the past two days she had attempted to observe him, watch his actions and see how he reacted to the others. She was not stalking him she reminded herself; no matter how many times Shadow accused her of it.

Each and every time however, he would turn, give a short wave, and return to what he was doing. This annoyed her to no end, since she didn't want him to know that she was watching him. She wanted to see how he acted when nobody else was around. It wasn't that she didn't trust the young man, far from it. In battle he would be one of her first choices to guard her back, after Aerrow, Starling, Suzi, Junko, and Scarlett.

No, the problem was that she simply didn't know anything about the enigmatic young male currently on his second set of baby back ribs. She had tried every avenue of research possible, from the Sky Knight Council's archives to simply asking others what they knew. She had learned a little, but not enough to fill a single notebook page. The SKC archives listed him as an unregistered combatant. That however was just the technical way of saying he was not a Sky Knight nor was he part of a squadron. There had been several other entry's regarding him, but very little of it was worth any merit. He had been a ward of the Interceptors, which she already knew. He had attempted and failed the Sky Knight Trials ten times, this she had not known, but was still of little consequence, she knew of people that had failed it many, many more times than ten. He did seem to have a black mark against him though, but when Piper had tried to look further into it she found that she was unable to due to not having high enough clearance.

This was strange. While a person's record was not exactly public information, anyone that was a member of a Sky squadron had access to the archives, the only records that would have been sealed were special ops missions, or private investigations conducted by the Council itself. This meant that he had been given a mission by the Council, which was highly unlikely due to the fact the Council rarely ever used "freelancers" and in the event of doing so would never give one a special ops mission.

This left the alternative, that the Council had conducted an investigation on him and found him to be in the wrong somehow. This however came into direct conflict with what others had told her. Whenever his name was brought up during conversations with Sky Knights, they would often clam up, the only exceptions being Starling and Suzi-Lu. The only other person that would speak of him was Bill Rex, and they only had positive things to say, though it would always be on basic general everyday topics. Things like, "He was a fast learner" or "He's a pretty good mechanic" or "He eats like the Leviathan". It was worth noting however that the three would then watch her like a hawk afterwards for several hours.

Suzi, and Billy would sometimes mention that he had a wicked sense of humor and pulled some great pranks, which Starling would confirm with a roll of the eyes and sigh. Upon finding this tidbit of information Shadow was quick to become friends and the two had terrorized the ship for an entire day.

Doors would open randomly, or sometimes fail to open when approached, _entire rooms_ would be upside down upon entering, but when the person would go to get someone they would right themselves up moments later. Piper had actually contemplated remaining in the safety of her room, that was until she found herself being tripped by some unseen force whenever she get up to get something. Overall the day had been half miserable (when being pranked) and half entertaining (when watching the others get pranked).

Aside from that, the only other things she was able to get on him were through observation. Both Suzi and Bill had on occasion referred to him as "little brother" or "little bro", and were both oddly protective of him. She had in turn heard him refer to the two as "sis" "big sis" and "bro". The Absolute Zero's as a whole seemed to view him as a fellow member of their pack, but would never give any explanation.

Of the three, Starling was the most peculiar. She only used the nickname "single syllable" when Suzi was around or when she was in a particularly good mood. Other than those occasions, she would only call him by his name. Watching the two interact however had caused Piper several rather severe headaches. She liked to keep notes on the people she knew and worked with, but it was hard to tell exactly what kind of relationship the two shared.

There had been one occasion where Billy slipped, it wasn't much, just a nickname, but it was one that she had never heard before. Whenever Starling and Suzi were together, they would sometimes tease him with various nicknames, the most prevalent being "single syllable" which he would respond to with mild annoyance. But after one rather heated battle, Billy had made a comment that caught her attention.

"Glad you're on our side Lizard Blood."

Though no one seemed to pay it any mind, it stuck with her. Where had the nickname come from? Starling had explained the origins of "single syllable" a while back, but she had never heard anyone refer to him as "Lizard Blood" before. The way he acted however told her that he was used to it.

So, the next time Starling had stayed aboard the Condor, she asked. The response she received surprised her to say the least.

Never had she ever seen her friend so clearly angry, yet at the same time so deeply hurt. The older woman got on the radio immediately and contacted Suzi-Lu. Piper had been so shocked by her idols outrage that she didn't dare eavesdrop in on the conversation. Afterwards she never brought up the nickname again.

When in battle, they didn't speak to one another, instead, they acted, their movements would flow together creating a maelstrom of havoc. This was of little surprise however considering how long the two had known, and likewise, trained together. They would protect and insure the others safety with their life.

If one of them was ever injured or sick, the other was rarely ever seen not by their side. The one would take care of the other without ever being asked, and would often do so without asking for help. This reminded her of her own squadron, and in turn every other Sky squadron. It was like some unwritten law; they took care of their own. The only time outside help was requested was in the event of life threatening or otherwise serious injuries.

When they would speak to one another, they were usually standing fairly close, or sitting beside each other, and were often times seen touching one other in the same manner as two siblings. A shoulder pat or squeeze, a light punch to the side or shoulder, an elbow to the side or stomach which was always followed by a grin or a glare. Sometimes they didn't even talk as much as they bickered, arguing over the simplest and sometimes most frivolous of topics. Things ranging from what the other did twelve years ago, which of them was the worse cook, to who the most annoying person they knew was. On one occasion Piper told them that they acted like a brother and sister, to which they responded with even more bickering. This in turn caused Stork to remark that they acted more like an old married couple.

To his credit, Stork had managed to evade the duo for nearly an hour before being locked outside to Condor and having to spend the entire night on the flight deck.

Sometimes they didn't even use words. They would just "know" things and appear. When one was in a sad or sour mood, the other would be there to cheer them up. If one was lonely, the other would seemingly materialize out of nowhere, not always speaking, but always present. When something bad happened to one, the other always knew about it without ever being told. Aerrow said that it was like twin sense, they didn't have to be told, they didn't even have to see, they just "knew".

All this did was make Piper even more confused. She was well aware that people often times shared several bonds. She herself had quite a few. With the Storm Hawks, they were childhood friends, they were squad mates, brothers and sister in arms, roommates, and they were an adopted family to one another.

But these two, these two seemed to share something much deeper. They had bonded as a teacher and student, as comrades in arms, childhood friends, brother and sister, roommates, and squad mates. But there just seemed to be something more, something else at work.

In the past, she had heard that people who shared traumatic experiences, or went through them together often times shared a special bond. Starling was pretty tight lipped about either of their pasts, but Piper knew from the archives that her parents had been killed in a Cyclonian raid when she was ten, and that Kai had lost his father in an attack a few months later. Added to that was the loss of the Interceptors.

"_Could that be it? They've bonded over the familiar pain of loss?"_ It was a good theory, and it did hold water. The only flaw with this was that Starling seemed to be the only one that was actually hurt by their being mentioned. Kai would become slightly upset, but more than anything he became angry. Not the expected reaction.

All in all, it was confusing and annoying. To Piper, Kai was a comrade, but he had also become something akin to a hobby. He was someone that everybody knew, but nobody knew anything about. He was a mystery, a riddle, an extremely annoying puzzle that came with no picture to use as a guide, and was apparently missing several pieces. The more she learned about him, the more she came to realize just how little she really knew. The pieces were out there, the riddle had an answer, and the mystery could be solved.

It would just take some time, time and patience, but she was sure that one day, she would finally solve the mystery that was Kai.

Coming to her senses, she noticed that the kitchen was now empty; their guest had finished his meal and had even done the dishes before leaving. Looking out the window she noted that it was now late evening. _"How long was I zoned out for?"_ Shaking her head to clear it, she returned to her quarters to once again dive into the pile of mission reports that needed to be filled out and filed away.

After a few hours past, Piper decided it was time for bed. She then noticed a scrap of paper on the floor by her door. Picking it up, she opened it and gasped at its contents.

"_If you want to know something, you could always just ask."_

After rereading the neatly scripted message, she went to her desk and pulled out a piece and scribbled down a message of her own. Folding it neatly, she opened the door and looked to see if anyone was there. When she was sure that the halls were clear, she made her way to the guest quarters and slipped the scrap of paper beneath Kia's guest quarters. Satisfied, she then returned to her own room and turned in for the night.

Kai, who had been fiddling with the record player, noticed the scrap of paper after hearing the sound of retreating footsteps down the hallway. Picking it up, he unfolded it and couldn't help but chuckle at the message.

"_Now where's the fun in that?"_

End Chapter.

AN: I hope that wasn't too bad. Piper's character has always struck me as a bit on the nosy side. She just seems to be the type that likes to know every little thing about everything. And, more than likely it drives her nuts when something (or someone) comes along that she knows very little about and can find virtually nothing on. Anyways, till next time, Ja Ne!


	7. Aerrow’s Analysis

Broken Wing

Broken Wing

Aerrow's Analysis

Hello and welcome to the seventh chapter of Broken Wing. I have decided to make a miniseries due to my enjoyment of the previous chapter. It has no real name, but it will be nine chapters long. Here is the basic run down. Kai is aboard the Condor for one week at the request of Starling. Why will be revealed in this chapter. This miniseries will be the opinions and observations of him through the eyes of the Storm Hawks during this period. There is no exact order in which they have to be read to understand, other than the last two that will be written. In the future, I might do a follow up on one if there are enough requests. Updates for all three of my stories will be whenever I can get around to them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Standing in the hanger bay, Aerrow watched as the approaching skimmers wings folded upwards then back behind its frame. At first he thought that it was a new model, but he soon realized that it was just a highly modified Bone Wing due to the roar of its engines. The wings had been reversed, so they now swept back and the entire frame hade been painted jet black. The only other things he noticed that seemed to stand out were the fact that all of the running lights had been removed and that the exhaust port had been covered with a flash guard.

"_Black paint job with no lights and a covered engine. That's pretty much standard for stealth or recon at night, but you can hear a Bone Wing for miles before its even close. Why go through the trouble of making something so loud stealthy?"_ Aerrow's thoughts were interrupted when someone shouted from beside him.

"Hey! Single Syllable! It's nice to see you made it on time." Aerrow couldn't help but notice her smile. It was different than the one she usually wore. It seemed, warmer.

Not that smiling was rare for the purple haired Sky Knight. Since their initial meeting, she had become much more open, and expressed herself not only more freely, but more frequently as well. But in this case, it was different. Her smile reminded him of when Shadow had found out that Tigger was her long lost childhood friend.

"And this is Aerrow. I'm sure you that already know everyone here, but still, formalities." Aerrow had been so wrapped up, that he hadn't even noticed that Starling was doing introductions. When he looked down he saw the older teen had his hand outstretched towards his own.

"Good to see you again, things holding up?" He asked.

Aerrow shrugged his shoulders. "Pretty much. Things are calm right now. It usually takes a few months for Cyclonia to recover."

The young man nodded. "True, but they always come back." He replied.

As the young man went back to his skimmer, Aerrow reviewed his already growing list of observations. Before dismounting, he looked each one of them over. It had been quick, just a once over, but Aerrow noticed it. He also noticed how he had specifically looked at each person's hands and waste area. This meant that he was checking to see if anyone was armed. It seemed that even in a friendly environment, he didn't feel safe or comfortable. Aerrow knew these to be the signs of a person that had been attacked in a place they had thought or felt safe at least once before.

"Well, I don't really know what to say. Is there anything in particular that I need to do?" He asked.

"Oh that's right! I'll show you where the guest quarters are. The rest of you can go about your business; I'll bring Kai to the bridge after I show him around a bit." Starling grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away.

The crew then dispersed, each returning to what they had been doing earlier, after all, they had an entire week to get to know him, no need to rush.

Aerrow returned to his room, but not before asking Radarr to keep an eye on their guest. As much as he wanted to, Aerrow just couldn't blindly trust someone that he hardly knew, and as much as he wanted to give the young man the benefit of the doubt, there was just too much against him.

Ever since crossing paths with him back at terra Cyclonia, Piper had become almost obsessed with every little detail about him. At first, Aerrow couldn't understand why. Piper had always been a very level headed individual, a bit on the curious side maybe, but nothing to this degree. So why had she become so fixated on Starlings former apprentice? As it turned out, the answer had been steering him right in the face. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her, and when combined with her inability to simply let a subject be dropped, this was the result.

After that mission, Piper had asked Starling a few questions about him. She didn't get very far though. The older woman only told her that he was a friend of hers from terra Mesa, and had once trained under her, but nothing beyond that. Not satisfied with these answers, Piper decided to do a little investigating, and after several days of research, sifting through old newspapers and records she turned up diddly squat.

So the next time Starling stayed with them she inquired a bit more. The main thing was his name; it didn't seem to appear anywhere. After shooting the younger girl a strange look, Starling confirmed that his name was indeed Kai, it wasn't a code name, nor had he changed it.

This time she went directly to the Sky Knight Council archives. Being a member of a Sky squadron allowed a person access to most records, not all of them, but most of them. She returned later that day even more frustrated. According to her, his file was smaller than most gift cards and provided very little that she hadn't already known. Additionally, she claimed that there was a second file, one that she didn't have clearance to see.

To Aerrow, this set off warning bells. A sealed record could only mean one of two things, and neither was good. So the next time Starling came to visit he confronted her on the subject, and was surprised to find out that she was not only aware of it, but was in fact the one that had requested it to be sealed in the first place. She refused to answer any more on the subject however.

Not one to be deterred, and after several months of hounding, Starling relented and contacted her former ward, and now here he was. Aerrow's natural instincts told him to trust the young man, but his training told him otherwise. First of all, he was a stranger. They had met before, but grand total, Aerrow was sure that he had spoken to the guy at Skyburger's fly through more time's than he had to Kai. Secondly, there was nothing to go on, he had no background, nobody talked about him and there was very little on the recorded about him. Thirdly, his record being sealed meant that something serious must have happened. While this no longer had as much merit to it now that he knew who was behind it, this did not change the fact that he had, at one time, been involved with something major. Something that Starling had felt was a threat if made general knowledge. So, while he might not trust her former charge, he did trust Starling, that much had been established long ago and would not be changing anytime soon.

Aside from that the only sources of information he had to go on were word of mouth and personal observation. The few times he had encountered the young man, he was in the company of Starling, Rondana, or the Rock Hearts, never alone. Thinking back, he couldn't recall ever have seeing him alone, not once, and these were only on missions. Not once had he ever seen Kai on any terra unless it was a combat setting. Where did he get his supplies? How did he restock? Aerrow had discreetly made contact with the vendors on several terras', but not one of them could remember seeing him, not once. So, when given the opportunity, Aerrow had made sure to memorize every little detail for future examination.

These observations revealed that aside from a few specialized parts and pieces, Kai, by and large, used _Cyclonian_ equipment. It wasn't just a little bit either, almost everything that he used or wore was of Cyclonian manufacturer, heck, he almost exclusively flew Cyclonian skimmers.

Where, and how, did he get this equipment? It wasn't like someone could just fly to terra Cyclonia, go into a FloorMart and pick up several dozen flight suits, nor did Cyclonia sell used skimmers. This could only mean one of two things.

One he was a Cyclonian spy. This was debunked however by the amount of property damage he caused the Cyclonians on a regular basis. The man was a human wrecking ball on the battlefield, often times aiding in the destruction of large scale weapons or capital ships. Aerrow knew that while an undercover agent would sometimes attack their own men for the sake of cover, they would only attack ground troops or fighters to maintain the cover. Not completely decimate the battlefield. It just wouldn't be practical.

The second option was that he stole it. This seemed to be the more likely of the two. But, it, like the first had several holes. While Cyclonai was stretched thin, and theft was nothing new (they themselves had raided Cyclonian bases when in dire need) it was not possible for one person, no matter who they are or how good they are, could possibly sustain themselves on stolen Cyclonian equipment and goods. Cyclonai was slow, but they weren't stupid. If a base was raided on a regular basis, they would increase security to deter future raids.

This meant that he had to have allies, friends, or at the very least, backup. So, he once again got on the radio and contacted the squadrons that were known to raid bases, or were located near a Cyclonian base. The results? Nothing, nadda, zilch.

Aerrow was beginning to understand why Piper had become so fixated on the young man. He was, as she said, an enigma, a very simple question with a not so simple answer.

He was brought out of his revelry when a small hand tugged on his pant leg. Looking down he saw Radarr giving him a questioning look. Reaching down with one arm he allowed his friend to climb back onto his shoulder.

"So, anything starange?" He asked.

Radarr thought for a minute, then moved his arms as though he were eating, then held one hand up to his brow looking around before pointing at the door.

"So they grabbed a bit to eat before looking around, and now their on the way up here?" He replied.

Radarr nodded his head "yes".

Looking up he saw the two enter, Starling still pulling him by the arm.

"And this is the bridge. It might not look like much, but it's my favorite place here." As she spoke, she motioned with her hands around the large room.

"Not bad, and certainly a much better view than my place, but I still prefer the kitchen." He replied with a grin.

Starling gave him a light punch to the shoulder before replying. "That's because you think with your stomach half the time."

"So, what do you think? I know it's not much, I mean, the Condor is over a hundred year's old, but." Aerrow decided to try his hand at some direct information gathering. Starting with were he lived.

"Not much? This place is great. You guys have a nice little home here. Very comfortable, it reminds me of our old home back on Mesa." He replied butting his shoulder against Starling's.

"What about your new home?" When Shadow asked this, the expression on Kai's face dropped.

"Meh. My current base is livable, but not really worth fixing up." He replied dryly.

Aerrow noticed that Starling was biting her lip, so decided to try and move things along, and try to get more out of him later. "Well, we were about to do some sparring before you arrived, want to join in?"

Smiling he replyed. "Sure, been a while since I had a good match. Lead the way."

Several minutes later the group was in the gym, and Aerrow was trying to decide what to do when Starling answered his unasked question for him.

"Hey Aerrow, would you like to go a round with him? I haven't had to chance to watch Kai spar in quite some time, and I'd like to see how much progress you've made as well."

"Aw, you took on another apprentice already? Star, I'm wounded." Kai held one of his hands over his heart while brushing away a fake tear with the other.

"I have done no such thing. I've merely given Aerrow a few pointers, that's all. Besides, you know full well that I won't take on another apprentice until after I'm finished with you." She replied with a teasing glare.

"Alright, alright, I was just joking, you know that." He smiled before removing his weapon holster and throwing it to Starling; he then got onto the training mat and dropped into a defensive stance.

Aerrow studied his opponent before getting onto the mat. _"He's a bit taller than me, but his stance is almost identical to Starlings, no surprise there. But why is he putting all of his weight onto his front leg? That would make him easy to knock off balance."_

"Let's see what you've got." Kai motioned for Aerrow to come at him.

Aerrow grinned and dropped into his own defensive stance. _"He wants me to strike first. Let's see how patient he can be."_ The two circled each other, neither one taking a step closer or breaking eye contact. It surprised Aerrow that the older teen had yet to make a move; usually Starling would have attacked him twice by now, the fact that Kai hadn't led Aerrow to believe that he was a counter striker.

Big mistake.

Breaking eye contact for only a moment, Aerrow checked to see how close he was to the mats edge. In the time it took to shift his eyes back, Kai was on the offensive. He barely had time to duck the fierce jab that was heading for his face, but before he could move out of the way, the arm that had just missed him curled up and hammered into his back as an elbow drop. Stunned, Aerrow rolled to the side just in time to dodge a heel drop that he was sure would have at the very least bruised a few ribs. _"This guys a monster!"_

While this was happening, the rest of the crew watched in awe. None of them had ever even come close to beating Aerrow, they knew that Starling could beat him if she wanted to, but normally their spars were to test each others out. Kai on the other hand was flat out trying to destroy their leader.

"You're pretty good. But you need to learn not to take your eyes off your enemy." Kai stomped where Aerrows hand had been seconds before. When the younger teen finally managed to put some distance between them he made sure to keep his eyes fixed on Kai.

"You know this was just supposed to be a friendly spar." Aerrow spat off to the side, trying to ignore the coppery taste in his mouth.

"Ah, ah ahh. Star said she wanted to see how much progress you've made. Awfully hard to do that throwing baby punches." As he said this Kai charged the younger teen rearing back his fist.

Seeing this Aerrow got into a semi crouch and jumped to dodge the would be strike. This proved to be a mistake however, as Kai then brought his arm up and grabbed him by the ankle, and yanked him back to the ground.

"You should know by now to never to jump unless you have no other choice. When your feet leave the ground, you lose the ability to move in any other direction." Kai spoke in an authoritative tone.

When Aerrow glared up at him Kai just smiled.

"Hey, I'm going easy on you. I'm telling you these things, Star and the others beat them into me."

Aerrow narrowed his eyes and charged. Managing to catch Kai by surprise. "Thought you said never to take your eyes off the opponent?" He said grinning as he managed to land a few solid hits on Kai's shoulder and one quick sweep kick to the shin.

"True, but I was just admiring the scenery. The view here is so much more, attractive." Kai grinned while winking at Piper.

Seeing this, Aerrow lost it and went into full out assault mode. Its effectiveness however soon became apparent.

Now panting, Aerrow had to stop. He was spent, and out of energy. Looking up he saw Kai had a serious expression on his face as he waked towards him. Leaning over, he whispered into the younger teen's ear.

"Dude, you've got nothing to worry about. I'm just a guest remember?" He then stepped back, and held out his hand. "Good job man, haven't had that much fun in a while."

"Fun? You were totally mopping the floor with him!" Finn shouted.

"Not really." Came Starlings voice. When everyone turned to her she sighed. "Kai was pushing himself the entire time, and he was actually at him limit. He just has ways of making it look like he isn't."

Now that he was up close, and no longer in the heat of battle, Aerrow was able to see what she meant. He could clearly hear the older teen's shallow breathing, and when he saw Kai run his fingers through his hair to push it back, it was clearly evident that he had been giving the short bout his all.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked, genuinely confused. "He looks fine from over here."

"First of all, I thank you for the compliment." When he saw the glare that Aerrow was now shooting him he decided to continue. "But my primary method of attack it misdirection and faints. I keep my hair like this so people can't see my face unless they are really close. Also, I have a mesh that I wear under my flight suit that makes it impossible for people to see my breathing. To them, it will look like I'm breathing normally even after an extended period of time. Combining these with my illusions, I can make it look like I'm never tired, or out of breath. I can even make injuries disappear if I want to."

"So then, why the all out attack?" Shadow asked.

"To keep me busy, I get it now. While I dodged and evaded your attacks, I was watching to see when you would have tired out. But since it looked like you were never going to run out of steam, I panicked. Then when..err."

"When your temper got the better of you?" Kai offered.

"Yeah, when I lost my temper and went full out, you just dropped back to defend. You made me lose my temper on purpose because you had reached your limit." Aerrow explained.

"So, is that why it seems that you never get tired? It's just a trick?" Shadow, who had seen Kai in action before didn't completely buy it.

"Not exactly. I _can_ go for extended periods of time in combat just fine. The down side is that when it's over I'm completely wiped out and exhausted for several days afterwards. Aside from that ability though, yeah, it's pretty much smoke and mirrors. I like my opponents to beat themselves for me, less work." He grinned as he walked back to Starling and retrieved his holster.

Aerrow couldn't help but notice that when she handed it over to him, she held onto it for just a second longer. It wasn't much, and someone without a sharp set of eyes never would have seen it, but he had.

Later that night when Aerrow was writing in the ships log, he reflected on the day's events, and what he had learned about their visitor.

Though a bit on the quiet side, Kai was generally friendly and an all around nice guy. He listened to people when they spoke, and only interrupted when he felt it was necessary. If he saw that someone needed help with something, he was quick to offer assistance as long as it was within his ability to do so. Also, even though he seemed to perpetually be on guard, he always gave people the benefit of the doubt.

The way he interacted with the others was particularly interesting. He seemed to know just what to say or do. After they're short spar, Kai sat down beside Aerrow and the two watched as the others practiced. As they did, he pointed out a few little things here and there that could use some improvement, and even pointed out a few things that Aerrow could work on with the rest of his squadron. Tiny little flaws in a person's stance or technique that could easily be corrected with a little assistance. When Aerrow asked why he himself didn't point them out or correct, he stated that it was not his place. The Storm Hawks were Aerrows, and that it would be improper for someone on the outside to interfere with a squadrons training.

Of course Aerrow retorted that Starling offered them aid on plenty occasions. He was surprised when Kai smiled and shook his head before replying.

"Like I said, it would be improper for someone from the _outside_ to interfere. Star's not on the outside. She told me how you guys have offered her a place on the squad several times, in my book that means she's a member of your squadron." His face then went from happy to remorseful. "I already know that the Interceptors are no more. The Council has even said themselves that Mesa will not be rebuilt until after the war is over. Star was a captain without a squadron, and a teammate without a team. You gave her those, and even though she still wears the Interceptor's insignia, it's only out of respect for her comrades. She might not ever actually join you guys physically. But on the inside, she's a Storm Hawk; she just doesn't know it yet." After that he got up and left.

It was strange. Here he had thought that Kai would have been upset or angry to find that someone had offered Starling an open slot on another squadron. But Kai genuinely seemed to be ok with it, even encouraging it.

"_He's different alright. Just when you think you've got him figured out, something comes along and throws you in a completely different direction. Invisible when not silent, yet silent while visible, he seems to know just about everything about everybody, but nobody knows anything about him, he's openly secretive while at the same time he's secretly open, far older and wiser than he actually is, and yet at the same time he still acts like a little kid."_ Running both hands through his hair Aerrow summed up his thoughts on the older teen with just three words.

"What are you?"

End chapter.

AN: Ok, it might seem like I'm inconsistent with Kai's strength, but in reality I'm not. He's only "supercharged" when using the shadow crystal, and like he himself said, it has a rather bad side effect if used extensively. He's a little bit strong then Aerrow, but not by much. Like it says in chapter one of my other story Yesteryears, Aerrow is "gifted" he was born with the natural gift. Kai was not. He's just been training longer. Also he is four years older, which makes a big difference. If any of you reading this have a sibling that is four years older than you are, you understand what I'm talking about. Until next time, Ja Ne!


	8. Radarr’s Reconnaissance

Broken Wing

Radarr's Reconnaissance

Woah, chapter eight. I didn't think I would make it this far. Guess you guys are going to be stuck with me for a while eh? Anyways, yes, as the title suggest, this chapter will be told from Radarr's point of view. Now, keep in mind people that Radarr is a Monkey, a Sky Monkey if my sources are correct, so he won't always use the same terminology that a human would. This miniseries will be the opinions and observations of Kai through the eyes of the Storm Hawks during his stay aboard the Condor. There is no exact order in which they have to be read to understand, other than the last two that will be written. Also, the events of this series might not be cannon to other noncannon fanficts on this site. (Meaning that I have parings in here that conflict with another authors story while at the same time using the same characters) In the future, I might do a follow up on one of these if there are enough requests. Updates for all four of my stories will be whenever I can get around to them, aside from Total Drama Terra (which is posted by Lane19) that one I try to have up every Thursday.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and more than likely, I never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal, two Storm Hawks DVD's, and this story. I am saving up to buy the series though, so far I've got…..three bucks, a bus ticket and……a Chuckie's Cheese coin? Where did that come from?

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Hopping down from his master's shoulder, Radarr followed the guest and purpled haired woman that stayed with his family on occasion. Though the guest was vaguely familiar, something about him was different. His scent was no longer the same, in fact, he didn't even smell human.

Making sure to stay out of sight, Radarr followed the two as they wondered the ship. This in of itself was strange, never before had master asked him to follow someone around the ship. _"Other then Shadow on the last day of the third month_." He amended. But that was for the safety of the rest of they crew.

The two went from the hanger to the kitchen, and Radarr watched as the guest threw together a sandwich that even Junko would have been unable to eat in a full day. It only took him a few minutes to devour it without leaving a trace behind.

"Kai, you really need to learn better manners." Starling sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Hey, just keeping practice. It's Ninja food." He replied.

"Ninja food?" She asked raising one eyebrow.

"Yeah, food that vanishes quickly without trace." He said before laughing.

"Kai, sometimes I don't know what I'm going to do with you." Starling said with a slight chuckle. "But it is good to see you again."

"Well, to be honest, I was a bit surprised when you just called me out of the blue, not that I mind. It was just unexpected, that's all. I am curious though, why did you call me in the first place?" He asked.

Radarr listened carefully through the wall. He knew this would be important. Though it was strange, while the two were talking he could hear a scratching noise, and every now and then a scrape or shuffle sound. _"It must be the rats again. Looks like they're hiding in the walls this time."_ Radarr groaned. This meant that the ship would have to be fumigated.

Again

"What? You don't like spending time with your best friend anymore?" She asked. Radarr thought that her voice sounded almost hurt. But he realized it was fake when she then laughed and continued. "Don't even bother trying to deny it, it's written all over your face."

"What? No! I don't mind, I was just curious, that all. Tell you what, why don't you show me that room you were talking about? You keep going on and on about it."

"Hmm maybe later, but first I want to show you where you'll be staying, unless you want to carry your duffle around with you the entire day." She said opening the door.

Radarr jumped and grabbed onto the pipes that hung from the ceiling, if he was caught spying he wasn't sure what would happen.

"Oh, ah, what do I do with this? Just throw it in the trash or something?" Kai asked.

"That's probably the best thing to do." She replied.

This slightly confused Radarr since he knew the entire sandwich had been eaten. _"He must have wiped his mouth or something."_ Radarr thought. He then heard a crumpling sound and something get thrown into the trash can.

Waiting, the two soon passed under him and went towards the guest quarters in the back of the ship. When he was sure it was safe, Radarr dropped down from his hiding spot and followed.

There was nothing else major or overly important that happened after that. At one point the two had stopped outside Pipers door and seemed to be listening to her speak with Finn, but other than that, there was nothing special or worth mentioning to Master. He wasn't even exactly sure what it was his master wanted to keep track of, so Radarr tried to memorize every little detail about what happened. He soon came to the realization that it wouldn't be all that difficult, since the two acted the same together as his family did. The only difference was instead of it being eight different people, it was only two, and yet, the two acted as the eight.

The way they spoke to one another reminded him of Master and Finn. So he knew that they were close, and had probably grown up together. Since their small talk involved the words "years ago" and "back then" or "remember" he was positive that they had grown up together.

The way the walked though reminded him of Master and Junko. It was not as friends, or even family members. They walked as equals, two exceptionally strong and powerful warriors that had a deep respect for one another's skill and abilities. He knew that the purple haired one was strong, he had watched her spar with and even defeat master, and he could recall seeing her fight alongside his family on several occasions. The guest, he had only seen fight once or twice, but he could tell by the way he carried himself that he was strong.

Their eye's told a different story though. From watching them interact, he concluded that their eyes were the same as Stork and Masters. They would cast fleeting glances to one another when they were sure the other was not looking. These showed concern, worry, and, even a touch of fear. It was as though the other was their only lifeline, and if they lost it, they would have nothing left, nowhere else to go and nobody to turn to. It became clear that they had not only grown and fought together, but in some way shape or form, they had saved one another.

Another strange thing was the way the guest would watch her, his eyes seemed to have a sadness, a great weight to them. Like someone seeing something waved before them and held just out of their reach. He had only seen this once before, and that was in the ninth member of his family, Fate. Whenever he was certain that nobody was watching him, the guest eyes took on the same hurt and pain filled expression as Fate's whenever she would watch Piper and Aerrow. Since he had seen it so few times, he wasn't quite sure what it was.

The tone of their voices reflected something that Radarr had very rarely encountered with his family. Though they spoke as friends, their voices were as family. It was how Shadow and Master would speak when no one else was around. Though not exactly the same, it was close. Their voices held a certain warmth, a fondness for the others wellbeing, one that was only present in blood relatives, that not even the closest of friends nor adoptive family could normally ever have.

The guest actions however, were probably the most familiar. He would always walk through a door first, and turn down a hall first. Most people thought this was rude, but those were people. People and animals had very different opinions on rude. The guest was putting himself out first, showing up first, and entering first so that he would be there first, so as to make sure the way was safe, the path was clear, that no danger would be present and no harm would come to the other. It was the same as he himself did for Master.

Last, but certainly not least, was their scent. Their scent was one that Radarr knew very well. It was exactly the same as Master and Pipers, even down to the reaction when Finn was around her for extended periods of time. It was a mixture of happiness, piece, apprehension and uncertainty, as well as just a touch of fear. Though the amounts of each varied depending on what was happening at the time, the five were always present. Occasionally there would also be a spike of anger, but this was only in the before mentioned case of Finn.

These observations led Radarr to one conclusion.

"_These two together, are an entire family."_

When he saw the two were heading for the bridge, Radarr decided that he had seen enough. So he took a shortcut and headed back so he report to Master.

End Chapter.

AN: Yeah, I know that it was short, but I don't have much experience in writing in general, so its hard for me to write from an animals standpoint for any extended period of time. I need to work on that I guess. Anyways, be on the look out for the next chapter of Broken Wing to be up in a few days. It will be titled "Finn's Findings". Anyone want to take a guess at whose viewpoint it will be from?


	9. Finn’s Findings

Broken Wing

Broken Wing

Finn's Findings

This chapter was pretty hard for me, mostly because I can't stand womanizers. That's why so many bad things happen to people like Finn in my stories; they give the rest of us guys a bad reputation. This miniseries will be the opinions and observations of Kai through the eyes of the Storm Hawks during his stay aboard the Condor. There is no exact order in which they have to be read to understand, other than the last two that will be written. Also, the events of this series might not be cannon to other noncannon fanficts on this site. (Meaning that I have parings in here that conflict with another authors story while at the same time using the same characters) In the future, I might do a follow up on one of these if there are enough requests. Updates for all four of my stories will be whenever I can get around to them, aside from Total Drama Terra (which is posted by Lane19) that one I try to have up every Thursday.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and more than likely, I never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal, two Storm Hawks DVD's, and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

"_Finally! I was starting to think those two were joined at the hip or something. There as bad as Aerrow and Piper I swear!"_ Grinning like a madman, Finn got ready for what he was sure to be his most dangerous mission yet. More dangerous then his random excursions as the Domo, more dangerous then any dual with Ravess, even more dangerous then what had become one of his favorite past times, taunting and teasing Piper. He was about to open the jaws of oblivion, stick in his head, and dare them to bite.

His mission?

To purposely antagonize someone that he knew full well had fought against, and even managed to defeat Master Cyclonis on a few occasions.

Were it not for Piper blackmailing him, he wouldn't have even thought of doing this. _"No sane person is dumb enough to do this to a normal guy, but you'd have to be psycho to even think of doing it with Him of all people."_ Thinking back to Piper's threat however, he stepped forward.

"Hey buddy! How's it going?" He asked.

Turning, the older teen shot him a curious look before standing up, and dusting off his hands. "Alright I guess. I just wanted to make sure that she was alright." Kai indicated with his chin that "she" was in fact his skimmer.

"Man, your as bad as Star you know that?" _"Alright, let's see how he responds to level one."_ He saw a slight change in the teen's demeanor, it wasn't much, but it was noticeable.

"What do you mean? _Starling's_ got some kinda habit with hers?" He asked.

Finn couldn't help but notice the way he said "Starling". It was almost like a warning. Despite his natural instincts to change the subject, he had no choice but to continue. "Yeah, Star checks on hers like twice a day. It's like she's afraid something will happen to it if she leaves it alone for more than a few hours." Finn did his best to keep his tone and expression neutral.

Shrugging, he responded. "Yeah, Starling's pretty attached to it. She's had Red Streak since she turned sixteen. Hard to believe it was just a normal skimmer at one time, not even a fighter really." Kai put the seat back down and turned to give Finn his full and undivided attention.

"_Crud, why couldn't he keep working on the skimmer?"_ Then, reflecting on the fact that _had_ Kai continued to work on his skimmer, he would have had several tools, including wrenches and screwdrivers, either in his hands or within reach. So he decided it was for the best after all.

"You wish to speak with me about something, correct?" Kai asked leaning against his ride.

"_Ok Finn, you can do this. Remember, just because he can kill you doesn't mean that he will."_ He then remembered the scant few times he had seen the older teen fight. _"He'll just leave me so beat up that I'll wish I was dead."_ "I wanted to ask you for a bit of advice, if you don't mind."

This genuinely surprised Kai, he could sense more than just a little fear emanating from the blond menace, fear, worry, and even a hint of doubt. Though these were the emotions he was sensing, he had no idea that they were for an entirely different reason. "I'll do my best, but, are you sure that one of the others wouldn't be a better choice?" It wasn't that Kai didn't want to help people, he just wasn't use to people actually seeking him out for any reason other then fighting.

"Well, I would ask the others, but they have no more experience then I do." He then swallowed._ "Here it goes, level two."_ "From what I hear, Star wouldn't even be able to help me out." He noticed the way Kai seemed to bristle every time he used her nickname "Star" rather then her full name.

"If Starling can't help you, I don't see how I could be of any use." He replied sharply.

Finn didn't like where this was heading. He knew that he was trying to tap dance across a minefield wearing wooden clogs. _"Ok, here it goes. Piper, I swear, if he kills me, I'm so going to haunt you for the rest of your life."_ "I was wondering if you could give me any tips on how to…eh…." Swallowing again, Finn continued. "Tips on how to get a girl."

Kai's face went from mostly calm with a twinge of annoyance, to blank, then slightly red, and finally, barely contained anger. "What makes you think I would be able to help you with that? There's a reason Star calls me Single Syllable." Kai's tone, while civil, had a steel edge to it.

"_Piper, why can't you do your own dirty work?"_ Putting on his cheesiest grin, Finn wrapped one arm around the slightly taller teens shoulder. "Oh come on. Every time I see you, you're always with some girl."

Kai shrugged Finn's arm off of his shoulder like it was a snake trying to bit his neck. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"_Finn, this is your last chance. You can run now and lose your dignity, or stay and lose your life."_ Thinking back to Piper's threat however made his choice clear. "Come on! The first time we meat you, you were with Tigger and Rondana."

"That's because I found them while infiltrating terra Cyclonia. I could have just as easily met up with one of the others." Kai replied.

"Oh yeah? Then how a bout when Ashell tried to become a Sky Knight? You were at Rondana's, and she told us that you arrived with Scarlett! What's up with that?" When he saw that Kai was about to speak he cut him off. "Then there's all the times we meet up and Shadow sticks to you like glue or something."

"That is because they sought out my help! I don't go around chasing every skirt the passes by!" Kai's tone was becoming a bit deeper, and listening closely; Finn thought he could hear two distinctly different voices speaking at the same time.

"_Man this is bad, he's just like Cyclonis. I need to get out of here."_ Making sure that his mask of stupidity was still in place, Finn continued. "Come on, you can tell me. I promise, I won't tell anyone your secret."

"There is no SECRET! What are you even talking about?!" Kai's voice no long had the deep rumbling underlay, but that didn't make it any less frightening.

"Well, aside from the fact that we always see you with a girl, and the fact that even you yourself say that they sought you out, there's the little fact that the two hottest Sky Knights to have ever lived, are constantly talking about you." When he said this, Finn knew he was going to regret it.

"Which _two_ Sky Knights are you referring to?" Kai's tone was about as hostile as could be. Finn swore that for a brief second, Kai's eyes turned a smoky grey color.

"Why, Starling and Suzi-Lu of course. Who else did you think I was talking about? Stork, Aerrow, Junko, heck, even Piper and Shadow have admitted that the two are gorgeous, and half the time we see them, their talking about you nonstop. So come on, what is it? Singing romantic songs? Sappy poems? Moonlight flight through terra Gale? I'm desperate!"_ "I'm dead, I know it, I am dead."_

At first, he didn't say anything. Kai just stood there, seemingly absorbing the entire conversation, then running it over in his mind over and over, trying to see if there was perhaps something he had missed, some little thing that would confirm the fact that he had just misheard or misunderstood the entire conversation.

While this was happening, Finn couldn't help but notice that he was having a hard time moving. It was like he was buried in sand, or mud. He could move, it took everything he had just to breathe. It was like having Junko sitting on your chest.

Turning, Kai looked Finn directly in the eye, later that day, Finn would claim that he had seen his own demise a million different times a million different ways in those brief moments. Right when Kai was about to speak however, someone upstairs showed mercy on the poor blond idiot.

Finn had called Starling an angel before in the past, but that was just his flirting. But from now on, he would always refer to her as his purple haired angel, or green eyed savior.

"Kai? Is everything alright?"

Then, it stopped. The weight was no longer there, he could both breathe and move normally._ "What's she doing here? Not that I'm complaining or anything, but wasn't Aerrow was supposed to be keeping her busy?"_ Finn thought.

Looking her over, he noticed that she was slightly flushed; and her face had a slight tinge of red on it. He could also see that her cloths were soaked with sweat; it was even dripping from her hair.

"Star? You alright?" Kai asked.

"Come on, let's get something to eat." She either didn't notice or didn't care about her current state, and neither did Kai. The two walked towards the kitchen without speaking a word.

Finn was thankful for the distraction, which he used to fly out of the room and run to Piper's. When he arrived there he was surprised to see a limping Aerrow holding an icepack to his neck. The two exchange glances, but didn't say anything. Piper arrived a few minutes later and gasped.

"What happened to you two?" She asked.

"Your stupid mission. From now on, you do your own dirty work." Finn was about to leave, but Piper blocked his exit.

"What happened?" She asked, this time a bit more serious.

"Well, I asked Starling to give me a few pointers, so we had a spar. It was the best thing I could think of to keep her busy for a while. After a few minutes went by she was showing me a submission hold when she got this weird look on her face."

"Well, what happened?" Piper asked expectantly.

"I, don't really know. One minute, she's standing in front of me, the next I'm upside down and flying into a wall. She just vanished."

"Ok, what about you?" Piper asked pointing at Finn.

"He, responded pretty much exactly the way I said he would. I seriously thought he was going to throw me into the wastelands there for a second." Finn was then interrupted.

"He would have."

The three jumped at the voice, having thought that they were alone. They turned to see Stork standing in the door way.

"What do you mean he would have?" Piper asked.

Stork shook his head before replying. "Piper, Kai is not normal, you know this already, but you refuse to let it be. Trust me when I say this, you do not want to provoke him."

"What? I thought he was an ally? Why would he attack us?" She asked.

"That's not what I meant. He IS an ally, but you don't want to provoke him. He looks human, but he's not, at least, not anymore." Stork said knowing look on his face.

"Oh come on. You think he's got mind worms or something? Of maybe he's possessed by a Sky Siren?" Finn asked sarcastically.

"No, don't be stupid. What I'm implying is, that he isn't human, that doesn't make something evil. Remember, I'm not human, neither is Junko, Suzi-Lu, or Triton." Stork then walked off leaving the three even more confused.

"Finn, you said that he was going to throw you into the wastelands. What stopped him?" Piper asked, half knowing the answer, but hoping that it was something else, something that was easily explained and wouldn't leave her with yet another unanswered question.

"Starling. She showed up all hot and sweaty, from her spar I guess. She looked like she had run from one end of the ship to the other. Guess that's not far off huh?" Finn then left, supporting Aerrow on one shoulder helping him to his room for the night. After he had dropped off his "cargo" he decided to head up to the bridge, if for no other reason than to bug Stork. Things had gotten way too serious for his taste.

When he arrived, he was shocked to find Starling asleep on the couch, with Kai using her lap as a pillow. Both were out cold and probably wouldn't be up till morning._ "So this is why Stork came down."_ Not wanting to risk certain death by waking the two, Finn did the smart thing (for once) and left the two alone. _"Man, she act's like a mother hawk with him, always keeping him in her sight. But, then again, he follows her around like a wolf, always making sure that she's safe."_

End Chapter.

AN: Not the longest chapter I've ever written, but I thought is was decent enough. Look for the next chapter to be up….whenever I can get to it lol. It will be either Junko's Journal, or Stork's Surveillance, I haven't decided yet. Please review!


	10. Stork’s Surveillance

Broken Wing

Broken Wing

Stork's Surveillance!

Well, I finally got some free time, and this is the result. Stork is arguably my favorite character from the entire series, and not just because of the comic relief he brings. He always seems to notice little things that nobody else does, details that other people either don't see, or if they do see them, they pass them off as being unimportant. Like the previous four chapters, this is a continuation of Kai's one week stay aboard the Condor, this time; it's a day from Stork's point of view. Also, I wanted to point out that Single Syllable is in fact the cannon nickname for Kai. Starling came up with it a while ago, but she and Suzi-Lu are the only ones that he will allow to get away with it. I will be posting a chapter in the near future explaining its origins. (Someone asked about it.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and more than likely, I never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal, two Storm Hawks DVD's, and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Stork watched as the black Bone Wing took off from the Condor's hanger along with five skimmers and one heliblade. Five days had passed since Starling's former apprentice had arrived, and today he was going through the Storm Hawks training program, starting with the friendly game of keep-a-way.

Out of the seven members that made up the Storm Hawks (Stork didn't count Starling since she still donned the Interceptors insignia) he was the only one that had objected to having the teen visit.

_Flashback_

"Alright, alright, I'll call him now. But I'm not making any promises; I'm not his commanding officer, so he doesn't have to come if he doesn't want to." Starling left for the radio room in the back of the Condor's bridge.

"Yess!" Piper shouted pulling back her fist.

"So, what's his name is going to be here for how long?" Finn asked scratching the back of his head.

"His name is Kai!" Shadow said bopping the blonds head.

"Ouch! That hurt." Finn wined rubbing the sore spot that he was sure was going to leave a bruise..

"Piper, I know your curious and all, but did you really have to do that?" Aerrow asked calmly, though you could hear just a hint of concern in his voice. It was only a touch, but it was still there.

That alone set off alarms in his head. _"Aerrow only sounds like that if he knows something is wrong."_ "I should take this time to warn you that we are not going anywhere near terra Deep. I have had enough fun with Murk Raiders for my life time, and have no intentions of any further contact." Stork said without even turning.

"No problem, he's got a few long range skimmers, so he should be able to reach us no problem." Shadow piped.

"How do you know what he's got? You've been to his place before?" Finn asked raising an eyebrow.

Stork noticed Shadow's expression change. It was only for a brief second, but it was all he needed. _"She has had some past interaction with this Kai person. But why wouldn't she talk about it unless it's something bad."_

"He's always showed up wherever before, so he's got to have some form of long range transportation right?" Shadow replied.

"I'm just glad Starling finally caved in. For a second there I thought that I was going to have to beg or something." Piper said gleefully.

"I don't think this is such a good idea." Stork spoke up again. "We don't know anything about him other than he lives somewhere in terra Deep and that only five people in all of Atmos are able to get in touch with him."

"Stork, he's not a Cyclonian spy, we know that much. Besides Starling knows and trusts him, so he can't be all that bad. You need to stop being so paranoid about everything." Piper replied.

The doors opened and a rather surprised Starling entered. "He said yes."

_Flashback end_

Though he was not the largest, strongest, or smartest of the Storm Hawks, Stork was by far the oldest. The closest to him in age was Junko, but there was still a seven year gap between them. As such, Stork had always felt that he was the team's unofficial big brother. It was his job to look after the others in ways they wouldn't think about.

Although his paranoia was largely a result from the environment he had grown up in, it was not entirely. Terra Merb was the last place on Atmos that anyone would want to live. A natural disaster struck at least once a day, and that was on good days. He remembered occasions where several powerful Atmosquakes had struck in the same day, along with tornados and even a mudslide.

He would never forget the day a Carrier crash landed itself no more than a few feet from his home. Rushing outside he climbed aboard to check for survivors. Thankfully, the only injuries were minor, no fatalities or major problems. Surprisingly, there were only a few people on board, and most of them were kids no older then nine or ten. It had taken him only a few hours to help repair the ship to the point where it was flight worthy, but he was extremely surprised when one of the youngest children asked if he wanted to join them. The old man that traveled with the group tried to persuade the young red headed youth to simply thank the Merb and leave, but he would have none of it.

_Flashback_

"He saved our lives, the least we could do is give him a lift out of here." Aerrow replied.

"Aerrow, you can't just offer to take someone with you when they help you. For all you know this Merb could be a Murk Raider." The old man said quickly losing patience.

"Nope, if he was a Merk I'd know!" A Wallop with glasses responded.

"Look, he helped us get out of a jam, besides; can you honestly tell me that you've ever seen a better mechanic before?" Aerrow pointed out.

"Fine, he can come. But you will be held responsible for anything that happens." The old man said.

_Flashback end_

Never before had anyone offered to help him with anything. Most people were too concerned with their own safety to even think about someone else. That was the main source of his paranoia, and why he tried to keep the kids clear of as much danger as he could. They had saved him, and given him a home that was relatively safe….most of the time. So in exchange, he swore that he would look after them.

Watching from the bridge, he kept a close eye on the black one, one hand never too far from the controls of the two main cannons if need be. It took him a while to trust anyone, but he never liked it when someone was brought onto the Condor. This was to a somewhat lesser extent when concerning Sky Knights or their squadrons; Kai however was neither a Knight nor a squadie. The only things he know about the boy was what he had heard from the others and from his own observations.

And those did little to comfort him.

Just the opposite really. He had heard about the black mark on his permanent record, and several other little snippets that lead him to question the boy's loyalty. Added to that were Storks observations from the past five days.

He was not present to witness the sparring match from the first day, but he had heard about it, and had seen the aftermath. Though not a Sky Knight, he was able to defeat Aerrow in one on one unarmed combat. A feat that only Starling and Dark Ace could claim up until now. Stork knew that if anyone could take down Aerrow on their own, it was likely that they could take down the others aw well.

The third day that he had been onboard was…scary. He had teamed up with Shadow and the two managed to bring about a reign to terror to the Condor that left even Aerrow cautious. The doors would open at random times, or sometimes that would fail to open. You turn on a light switch, it would flush the toilet, flush the toilet and all the lights would cut off. They had even managed to prank everyone on the ship while they were in their own rooms! Though this did result in many laughs, it gave Stork all the more reason to worry.

After all, Kai didn't live here. In fact, this had been the _first_ time he had ever even set foot on the Condor. And yet, he was able to rewire the entire ship in just one night. He had figured out the passlocks to each persons private quarters, he had even been able to bypass each and every security system Stork had so painstakingly put into place. All this was done in just one night, without any blueprints or schematics of the ships systems.

This had nearly put him over the edge. Not only was this young man able to bypass security systems that had been developed over a period of years in response to various threats that they had faced, but he had done so with ease, and at the same time, he had done it without being seen.

Since that day, Stork always kept an eye on him, watching him constantly. This had proved to be extremely difficult however. His eyes constantly scanned his surroundings, and he never dropped his guard, well, not completely. The only time he seemed to be a bit calmer was when he was in the presence of Starling. Even more surprising was what Stork found himself realizing.

As he watched the boy, he noticed that not only did the boy keep track of the entire crew, at all times. But he also was constantly keeping Starling in sight. It was rare for the two not to at least be in the same room.

While this was happening, Stork also discovered that Starling was doing just the same.

The two treated each other in the exact same manner that Stork did the rest of the Storm Hawks. They weren't worried about themselves; they weren't even looking out for themselves. Rather, they were worried about the other, they were looking out for the other.

This only slightly lowered Stork's paranoia. He recognized their behavior to be identical to his own, only they concealed it from plain sight or from casual observers. That still didn't make Stork feel any less nervous. Several incidents from the week, as well as things he had heard confirmed that despite not being a Cyclonian, Kai had little trouble attacking someone depending on the situation.

Finn was a prime case of this. Long ago he had conceded that he had no chance with the purple haired Knight. This did not deter him from casual flirting however, after all, lightning has been known to strike the same place twice. Normally, depending on the approach, Starling would do one of three things. If it was a good approach, she would ruffle Finn's hair and tell him "better luck next time" if the approach was not good, she would sigh, shake her head and walk away. The "bad" approaches were met physically, with the severalty depending on how bad the approach.

When Kai was present however, this changed. Automatically all advances were categorized as "not good" at best. The first time Finn tried to flirt while Kai was around, Stork was surprised to hear a low pitch growling sound. When he turned to see where it was coming from, he was surprised to see that not everyone was able to hear it. Aside from him, only Junko, Radarr and Griffy reacted to it, the others didn't at all. _"He's not human, no way can a human growl that low. Finn had better watch himself."_

Though Starling was very careful during these few occasions, Stork noted that she made a clear effort to place herself between the two males.

"_He's extremely protective of her, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. If he did in fact grow up with the Interceptors, then it would make sense that he see's them as his family."_ Stork almost chuckled. _"He does the same thing with aggravation that I do with paranoia. We're so much alike it's scary."_

Overall, Stork still didn't trust the young man, and more than likely he never would. Just the same however, he realized that Kai was not very likely to ever trust the Storm Hawks. The way Kai thought of, and treated the Storm Hawks was the same way that Stork thought of and treated the other squadrons, and those that they had met in their travels. They were not his _family_; they were the _friends_ of his family. For this reason, though he ultimately decided not to trust Kai, he did respect him.

End chapter 10

AN: Ok, I hope that I didn't make anyone seem OOC in this story, but I've been a bit busy lately and I fear that I might have lost the touch I was just starting to get on this series. Please, review and tell me what you think! 


	11. Shadow's Snooping

Broken Wing

Shadow's Snooping

AN: Ok, I know this one took awhile, but it's one of the longest chapters I've posted, aside from TDT of course. This one was slightly more difficult since it revolved around Kai and another author's OC, but I think I've got a good feel for Shadow, the fact that she has a bit in common with Kai certainly helps! Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

Shadow is the property of ShadowQueen25

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Dark Voice

Shadow was startled awake when she felt a hand cover her mouth. She tried to jump up but found herself unable to move. The only hand that was on her was the one clamped down on her mouth, so whoever the person was, they were inhumanly strong.

"_Junko? No, it can't be, he sleep's like a baby. Then wh? Oh I forgot."_ Shadow relaxed and soon felt the hand remove itself.

"Ready?" Kai whispered.

Shadow grinned and nodded. She could see the mischief in his eyes and knew that the others were going to be in for a surprise when they woke up.

"I'll be right outside, get ready as quickly as you can; we only have a few hours." The golden eyed teen then left her room and closed the door behind him without making a sound.

Sliding out of bed, she put on one of her green and black flight suites that she had removed the armor from earlier. _"I wonder just how good he really is. I've been pranking the guys for so long that they've customized the security system because of it."_ Opening the door quietly she stuck her head out to see if he was there. Sure enough he was leaning against the wall tapping his fingers, but he quickly looked up at her and smiled.

"Ready to watch a pro in action my young apprentice?" He whispered evilly.

Shadow rolled her eyes. "Your only four years older than me, but let's see what you've got." She replied.

This was all thanks to a particular discussion she had walked in on by accident that morning. One that she was very thankful for since it saved her sorry butt from getting into deep trouble.

Normally, Piper was the first one up in the morning, unless Starling was there, then she was the second one up. Anyways, the first thing she did was plot out the Condor's course for the day, that way Stork wouldn't fly into any terra's on purpose. He was a terrific pilot, but he had a sense of direction rivaled only by Finn. After that it would depend on the day.

But this was not a normal week, not by a long shot.

Several months ago, the Storm Hawks had been captured (yet again) by the Cyclonains, along with every other Sky Squadron. It had been another one of Master Cyclonis's take over the world schemes, but unlike most of the other ones, this one had almost succeeded. The only thing that had saved Atmos was the collective efforts of a rag tag gang of unregistered combatants.

During one of the seemingly endless battles, Piper, as always, noticed a few little things that piqued her curiosity. One of these happened to come in the form of a golden eyed, staff wielding, teenage boy.

It had nothing to do with the fact that he rivaled Aerrow in the looks department (or so she claimed) or the fact that he was just as good as any Sky Knight they had ever seen.

No, what caught her attention was that her idol, inspiration, and all around number two favorite Sky Knight of all time, knew him.

And she didn't.

This was strange since Piper had memorized virtually ever member of every Sky Squadron on Atmos. As well as a large number of the unregistered combatants, including every member of the Rock Hearts. (No small feat.)

Yet, this one, she knew nothing about. Not one fact, not a single thing.

And it drove her absolutely up the wall.

Shadow of course found this to be extremely entertaining. After all, the last time she remembered seeing the bluenett this close to a complete mental breakdown due to frustration was when she had attempted to explain to Harrier why the code no longer had a place on the battlefield.

At first, Shadow didn't think much of it; after all, there were literally hundreds of people just like him. So what if he happened to be friends with a few Sky Knights? That was nothing strange, in fact, it was actually pretty common. Most Sky Knights were generally well liked by their home terra, even Harrier had his own action figure, and most of the Squadrons had posed for various posters, binders and even book covers for kid's. (The Storm Hawks had two renditions, the first and somewhat more sought after was of the originals led by Aerrow's father, the second was the squadrons current incarnation.)

But Piper had been unable to let it go. She went through every source she could think of trying to find out just what the connection was. After exhausting every possible avenue, she finally managed to badger Starling into inviting him to stay aboard the Condor for a week.

This was not very welcome news to Shadow. Not that she had anything against the older teen, no, it had more to do with the one responsible for bringing him.

Starling

Shadow had been told of how she had met the Storm Hawks, and of their various exploits. She was their friend and officially recognized as a part time Storm Hawk. (Even appearing in a limited edition poster with Aerrow posing as the Storm Hakws duel Sky Knights.) But Shadow had always made it a point to be scarce when the purple haired woman was around. This was due to the two differences between Starling and nearly every other Sky Knight.

The first was that she had a natural suspicion of every person she met, until they proved worthy that is, as the Storm Hawks had. The second reason however was the more prevalent one. There was a very good chance that she knew who she really was.

Not as Shadow, no that name was known by nearly everyone, but rather there was a good chance she would recognize her as Arabella Shamara.

Daughter of the one and only Dark Ace.

Normally, she was only around for a day or so, but every now and then she would stay for a few days. But a week? That had never happened before. She didn't want to seem suspicious, or rude, but she had had to be careful. One little slip up, one little mistake and it could cause both her, and Aerrow (who knew) more trouble than it was worth. So she wore her hair down, making sure that it covered as much of her face as possible, and even wore color changing contacts that she kept for just such an occasion.

After he arrived, and initial introductions were made, Piper sent out each of the others and gave them a specific task to complete. Aerrow and Junko had agreed out of curiosity themselves, Stork had been bribed (with sandcakes) and Finn had been blackmailed. Shadow told Piper that she wanted no part of it, but finally relented after she had agreed to take her place on the chore wheel for the next two weeks. (This was mainly due to the fact that the next week was Finn's monthly laundry day.)

Her tasks? The first was the same as the others, get to know as much about him as possible. The second however was a tad bit more difficult. She was to infiltrate his temporary quarters onboard the Condor and find whatever she could. She had succeeded in this, yet failed at the same time. While she _had_ gotten into his room, she was unable to find anything of warrant. In fact, it looked like he hadn't brought anything more than a couple of changes of clothing. As she was about to leave however, she was caught. Thankfully she was very good at thinking on her feet.

_Flashback_

"What are you doing in my room?" Kai asked raising an eyebrow.

Shadow had been very discreet in her search, and made sure that the room looked exactly the way it had when she entered, but she still needed to come up with a believable excuse. That's when she remembered something from that morning, a particular discussion she had overheard.

"I was waiting for you." She gave her trademark sneaky grin and made sure that her eyes gave off a slight twinkle.

This caused the older teen steep back slightly.

"I seem to recall something this morning about you having an interesting sense of humor, and if I'm correct, I even recall something about a few pranks." Shadow was tapping her chin and looking upward, being sure to both give off a sense of innocence, while at the same time making sure that he couldn't see her eyes. Aerrow had told her once that Starling had a built in lie detector, and she didn't want to take the risk in case she had taught him the same trick.

"Yes, I have been known to pull one or two. Why do you ask?"

_Flashback end_

That was the reason she was currently creeping through the dark corridors of the Condor, rather than peacefully dreaming about cutting off all of Master Cyclonis's hair.

"So? Who's up first? He asked suddenly.

She was caught off guard by the sudden remark, but kept her cool. "Junko would be the easiest." She replied calmly.

Nodding his head, the two made their way to the resident Wallops quarters, and entered silently. Once inside, Kai simply stood there for a few minutes not moving. Shadow was about to nudge him when he made his way over to the bed. Shadow was curious to see just what he had in mind; after all, it was no secret that Junko was a sound sleeper. She grew even more confused when he reached into his duffle and pulled out a single item and placed it on the night stand.

Upon seeing what it was, Shadow became puzzled, she was about to ask what the point in leaving something so trivial was and how it could even be called a prank, but she saw him reach into the duffle once more and pull out a second item.

Then, it made sense. It took everything she had not to break out laughing on the spot, but she managed. The two then crept out of the room and closed the door.

After taking a few minutes to calm down, he once again asked her who. Now that she knew his caliber, she wanted to see him in action.

"Finn." Her grin continued to widen as he smirked.

"Sorry, but he'll have to come after Piper." He replied.

She was about to question him, but decided against it, so she chose Aerrow instead.

The two made their way to the Storm Hawks young Sky Knight and were about to sneak in. Shadow remembered that Radarr stayed in Aerrows room most of the time and was about to warn him. Aerrow was a pretty light sleeper, but Radarr was even lighter. Those big ears of his were for more than just show, and there was a reason for his name after all.

"Hey, don't forget about." He cut her off by holding one finger to his mouth.

Reaching into his bag, he pulled out an apple. Nothing special, just a normal, ordinary, everyday apple. He quietly opened the door and set foot inside. Sure enough, Radarr was up and about to wake Aerrow, but Kai held up the apple and motioned for the sky monkey to come to them.

Slowly and cautiously, the little blue fuzz ball came up to them. Kai squatted down and held out the apple. Radarr sniffed it for a second then looked at Kai suspiciously. Leaning forward, he whispered something into its ear. When he leaned back, Radarr tapped his chin then nodded his head. Kai then gave him the apple and entered to room. Shadow was about to follow him but he motioned for her to stay. After all, Aerrow was a Sky Knight, and they didn't want to wake him up.

A few minutes later, he exited the room and grinned. "Next?"

Wanting to see just what he had in mind for Finn, she decided to turn him loose on Piper, since he had told her that Finn would have to come after her. That and she always enjoyed watching the girl get frustrated, confused, of just plain mad. So long as it was not directed at her that is.

The reached her room and Kai was about to enter, but Shadow stopped him. When he turned to look at her, she shook her head.

Shadow, like every other member of the Storm Hawks knew two things. One was that if someone messed with Piper, they would also incur the wrath of Aerrow. The second thing she knew was that Piper's room had a security system. In the past, some people (Finn) had tried to get back at her for ruining their fun; in addition, Piper's room was where they stored all their excess crystals, so the only person that knew how to get past the security system was Piper herself. Not even Stork knew exactly what she had in place, the only thing they new for certain was that once inside for the night, or when she didn't want to be bothered, the door could only be opened safely from the inside. There was an emergency override code that they each had, but that was only for an emergency.

She quickly explained this to him and he leaned against the opposing wall. After a few seconds, he once again approached the door and pulled out something from his pocket. It was a crystal, that much she knew, but beyond that, she hadn't a clue. It was about the same size and shape as the crystal Piper wore on her necklace, but it was not a clear blue color, rather, it was a dark grey color.

He held it up several inches above the handle and squeezed it, which caused the crystal glowed with a faint grey aura. He then moved it counter clockwise, and Shadow hear a click sound. After putting away the crystal, he opened the door carefully.

Nothing happened.

He then pulled out a second crystal, grey, round, and about the size of a ping pong ball. Recognizing it, Shadow pulled him back. Shooting her an annoyed and questioning look, she pointed at the ceiling. Looking up, he saw the reason she had stopped him.

A smoke detector.

He was about to toss in a smoker, to see if their were any motion sensors or infrared beams, but this would have set off the smoke detector and woken the current target. Silently thanking her, he pulled out a different crystal. It was a light green color and looked like it was covered in spider webs. After giving it a gentle squeeze, he tossed it in, and several seconds later the air was filled with green crystal dust. Looking around, they were able to see several beams crisscross through the room before the dust was sucked up through the ventilation system. Kai motioned for her to step back, and ventured into the room while Shadow watched from the doorway.

She saw him move quickly and quietly towards the girl's closet and open it. Beyond that, she couldn't see a thing since the room was so dark. A few minutes later he remerged smiling.

"Now for Finn." He said. Shadow followed silently while trying to figure out exactly what he had done to Aerrow and Piper. She didn't think it would be anything too bad, and she was sure that he wouldn't do anything that would cause them physical pain, but beyond that, she didn't know.

Once they reached Finns room, he asked if Finn was a light sleeper, to which she laughed. Taking this as a no, he opened the door and the two entered.

There was a reason Finn's room was called ground zero. Magazines, comics and discarded food wrappers littered the floor, along with several music sheets and a few other odds and ends. Once again, Kai headed towards the closet. When he opened the door, he nearly laughed.

Since Piper had all of Shadow's choirs, Finn was in short supply of clothes. He had only two flight suites and a single tee shirt left. Kai handed the duffle to Shadow for her to hold and pulled out the three pieces of clothing and put them inside the bag.

Shadow was seriously beginning to doubt in Kai's ability to prank. Sure what he had done to Junko was pretty funny, but taking all of Finn's clothes'? That was really kind of boring.

Then, he did it.

Reaching inside a side pouch, he took something out and put it on a hanger in Finn's closet.

When Shadow recognized what it was, she once again nearly burst out laughing. She knew that the next morning was going to be great.

The two left Finn's room and Shadow was barely able to stop from giggling out loud.

"Alright, just one more to go." He said turning.

"One more? But you haven't done anything to Stork or Starling. That's two." Shadow said trying to figure out why one was going to get off scot free.

"Yeah, Stork is up next, and he's going to take a while, but…I'm not doing anything to Star." He said swallowing a lump in his throat.

"Why not Starling? She has a sense of humor doesn't she? Shadow asked before continuing. "Unless that is, your sweet on her or something." She teased.

Kai paled. "Last time I pulled a prank on her, she got me back, big time." Upon seeing Shadow's doubtful look he added. "She bunked with Suzi-Lu when she was at the Sky Academe, who do you think taught me in the first place?"

Then she understood. Suzi had a bit of a….reputation amongst the squadrons. If she didn't know you, you were fine. If you knew her, you were at risk, if she liked you, you were tortured, and if she didn't care for you, you went through the meat grinder.

"What happened?" She knew that this was going to be good.

"Well, I…I put some green hair dye in her shampoo." Kai said rubbing the back of his head.

Shadow was trying to imagine what the purplenette would have looked like as a greenette. The mental image was pretty funny. But then she remembered. "What did she do to get you back?"

Kai fidgeted for a moment before answering. "She shaved all the hair off my head, including my eyebrows."

That just about did it. Shadow didn't move, she didn't say a word. Turning around she pulled her arm out of its sleeve and stuffed the sleeve into her mouth. For several minutes Kai could hear muffled laughter before she finally stopped, rearranged herself and turned to face him.

Rolling his eyes, he motioned for her to follow him.

When they had finally finished, Shadow noted that it was only an hour before sunrise, so she decided to forgo sleep and try to stay up. The crew had forbidden her from ever drinking decaff coffee, but she was still allowed to have soda. Kai looked otherwise normal which surprised her.

"How can you still be awake?" She knew that even if he drank coffee, he would still have bags under his eyes.

"I can go for three days without sleeping; besides I haven't really done that much for the last few days." He said sitting down.

Together, the two of them talked while waiting for the first person to get up.

"AAAH!"

_Thump_

Turning, the two saw that Piper had entered the kitchen, but had fallen flat on her butt.

"You ok?" Kai asked holding out a hand to help her up.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a bit off. I've fallen down like, four times since I got up this morning." Piper said rubbing her now sore backside. She took another few steps forward before falling again.

"Are you sure that you're alright?" Shadow asked trying to figure out what was happening.

_Thunk_

"Hey, what's up with the door?" Aerrow asked from out side.

Getting up, Kai walked to the door and it opened as soon as he got within three feet. "Seems fine to me. Hey Piper! Did the door give you any trouble?" He asked looking back at the blue haired girl.

She turned to answer him, but froze.

A few seconds later she was smiling,

Then she was giggling,

Then finally she burst out laughing.

Shadow turned to see what was so funny and burst into a fit of laughs herself.

Aerrow looked around at the three trying to figure out what was wrong.

At this time, Junko entered the kitchen with a strange look on his face. Not angry as much as he was confused. He saw Piper and Shadow on the floor laughing and Kai leaning against the wall for support.

He soon saw why.

Standing in the center of the room was an extremely confused Aerrow.

With bright pink hair.

"Uh, Aerrow. Why is your hair pink?" He asked.

Aerrow's eyes became the size of basketballs and he ran grabbing a frying pan.

Sure enough, his reflection showed pink hair. He didn't move from where he was standing for a few minutes, he just stared.

Piper and Shadow tried to stop laughing, but every time they saw Aerrow they burst out laughing again.

"ALL HANDS REPORT TO THE BRIGE!" Stork's voice called out over the intercom.

All laughing stopped and the crew ran to the bridge.

"Stork, report!" Aerrow said in his normal 'I'm in command' voice.

Stork turned to face them but jumped when he caught sit of Aerrow.

"AHHH! Bloivian glow mites!" Stork ran back into his room before reemerging in a hazmat suite.

"Stork, it's just a prank that someone pulled, now report, what's the emergency?" Aerrow asked slightly annoyed by the snickers he heard coming from the others.

"Someone went into my room last night." Stork said looking around shooting everyone with suspicious looks.

"Well? What happened?" Junko asked.

"I don't know! I just know that someone was in MY room while I was ASLEEP!" Stork shouted.

"How do you know that someone went into your room if nothing happened?" Shadow asked. Like Piper and Aerrow, Kai had entered Storks room alone, so she had no idea what he had done.

"Ohh I know. You see, I cover all my doors and drawers with a piece of tape before going to bed. If the tape is torn, I know that someone opened it. This morning, ALL of the pieces of tape were torn!" Stork said starting to hyperventilate.

"Was anything missing?" Piper asked.

Stork shook his head. "No. Everything was still there, I checked and double checked after doing a complete scan of everything for every disease I could think of. Then I checked for bugs or hidden cameras, nothing, nada zip zilch. As Stork's pace of speech continued to grow faster, the little view port in his hazmat suit fogged up.

"Well if that's all, I'm going to get some breakfast." Piper turned to leave when she yet again fell.

"OW!" Piper groaned. "I think something's wrong with my shoes." Piper said holding one leg up to inspect the bottom.

"You sure that your not just a little bit fuzzy from waking up? Junko asked holding out his hand to help her up.

"Thanks Junko. But no, I'm pretty much awake. That was the fifth time this morning, and with Aerrow's hair the way it is, I'm pretty sure that someone messed with my boots." She back away but found that she couldn't.

"Uh, Junko, you can let go of my hand now." Piper said.

This of course caught Aerrow's attention. Turning, he saw that Junko was indeed holding Piper's hand.

"Huh? Oh I forgot! Someone put this on my night stand last night, but when I picked it up I couldn't let go of it." He opened his hand as wide as he could, revealing a yellow rubber ducky.

Piper struggled trying to pull back, but found herself stuck fast. She soon had both feet pushing against Junko's chest trying to pry herself loose. "I'm stuck!" Piper said.

"So another words, waters wet. What else is new?" Shadow said laughing at their predicament.

While this was happening, Stork switched out from his hazmat suit to an old diving rig complete with air hoses that were hocked up to an air pump. (Think Captain Cutler from Scooby Doo)

_Thunk_

The group turned when they heard something slam against the door to the bridge. Once again, Kai being the closets walked up to it.

When the door opened Starling was seen with one raised eyebrow. Reaching down she pulled up a slightly dazed Finn with one hand.

"Anyone care to explain this?" She asked indicating Finn.

Silence.

Aerrow, Junko, Stork and Shadow's jaws were on the floor, and Kai was grinning.

Piper however was another story.

Her face was bright red and doing a great imitation for a cherry.

There stood Finn.

Wearing one of Piper's flight suites.

It was stretched to its limits, but still in one piece.

"FINN!" Piper stomped forward intent on beating the blond menace into a pulp but once again slipped and fell. Unlike the previous times however, she pulled Junko down with her.

Finn broke out laughing, completely forgetting about his clothing, Aerrow and Stork broke out laughing at both of them, and Shadow and Kai laughed at all of them knowing that they had got them good.

Radarr and Griffy watched from a safe distance. They looked at each other for answers, but had none. They had accepted long ago that the humans they traveled with were far from being normal, but they had never seen anything like this before.

Starling returned a few minutes later with some nail polish remover and separated Piper from Junko, and then helped remove the rubber ducky. The entire time she eyed Kai with more than just a little suspicion, but he noticed that she was also smiling, so he knew that he didn't have to worry about her ratting him out.

The rest of the crew tried to go about their normal business, which was difficult with the doors opening randomly, or as it seemed to be in the case of Aerrow and Finn, not opening at all. Finn had yet to find his missing two flight suits, but Aerrow gave him one of his spares. It goes without saying that the rest of the crew was thankful. However, Finn actually asked Piper where she got hers since he had actually kind of liked it, saying it would make a great swimsuit.

After burning the one that he had worn (she threw it into the engines furnace with a pair of tongs, which were then also thrown in) she ran back to her room (tripping every few steps) and cut off the tags on all her suits then burned them. (Which the others were also thankful for.)

While this was happening, Aerrow found a baseball cap he could use to cover the majority of his hair with, despite personally hating the Rex Oriels, he hated the pink hair even more so begrudgingly wore it. Stork was another case entirely. He had just about striped the entire ship down to the frame trying to figure out what had happened.

When it became late afternoon, Shadow and Kai were called to the bridge.

"We know it was you. So why don't you just fess up and tell us why and what you did to Stork." Piper said. Her hands were on her hips and she seemed to tower over the two. Shadow could easily see the resemblance she shared with her mother.

"Do you have any proof that it was either of us? Kai asked calmly.

"You're the only two that weren't pranked, so it had to be one of, or more than likely, the both of you who did all this." Piper responded.

"Two things wrong with that, one, I don't think Star was pranked either, second, Shadow actually did get pranked." He answered calmly.

"What? I haven't been pranked?" Shadow's eyes went when she realized that she probably just gave herself away. She was about to tell the others that she had only been an accomplice to get back at Kai for ratting on her when he pointed at her hair.

Walking to a wall hung mirror, she saw that she had indeed been had.

Running down the center of her black hair was a single white skunk stripe.

"AAAAHHH! My hair!" She shrieked causing the bridges male occupants to cover their ears.

"Now, unless you have proof it was me, I'm going to take a nap." Kai turned to leave the now silent group.

It was several seconds before anyone moved or said anything.

Aerrow, Junko, Finn and Stork all broke out laughing, but soon stopped when they noticed that Piper, Starling and Shadow were still standing silently. Getting up they waved in front of the girls to try and get their attention. It took a few seconds but they snapped out of it.

"What? You didn't think it was funny?" Finn asked snickering.

"Uh…welll..ummm…" Starling looked away before finishing her answer.

Piper and Shadow just looked away to begin with.

"Well, we still don't know who did it to begin with, I mean, its not like he would have done that to himself." Aerrow stated finally regaining control.

"Maybe it was Starling? She was the only one that didn't get pranked after all." Finn said narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"That, or the culprit was smart. Think about it, she could kick all our butts if she wanted to." Shadow added running her hands through the white stripe that ran down the center of her hair.

"Why don't we just leave it as is and be glad that the days over?" Junko said scratching his chin in thought.

"Oh? Why? Because YOU'RE THE one responsible!" Finn shouted pointing at the large Wallop.

At this time Shadow made a hasty retreat back to her room ready to turn in for the night.

"So, not too bad eh?"

"Eak!" Shadow jumped and spun around coming face to face with Kai, who she noted was now wearing a different pair of pants.

"So you did do that to yourself after all?" She asked honestly surprised.

Kai grinned, and then nodded. "Yeah, nobody ever suspects the pranker to prank themself, that's why it's such good cover. The stripe should wash out in a few days by the way."

"But, why cut the bottoms out of your pants? Why didn't you?" Before she could finish Kai cut her off.

"It had to be something that a person normally doesn't notice. Nobody has seen me from behind today that I'm aware of, so I made use of that." Kai replied trying to repress a yawn.

"But, when did you get me? I've been around you all day." She asked curious as to how he could have put the 'skunk stripe' in her hair without anyone noticing.

"This morning before I woke you up I put some powdered dye on your brush. After you took a shower and ran it through your wet hair…." Kai left it hanging at that point.

"It stuck to the first place I ran it through which just so happened to be the middle." Shadow's eyes lit up with the possibilities. Piper's hair would never be a natural color again. Then she remembered.

"Hey, what did you do to Stork anyways?"

"Nothing." Kai answered.

"Oh come on! You can tell me. Did it not work out? Of did he find it and disarm it without knowing? Ohhh I know it must have backfired on you, is that it?" She asked getting exciting.

"Woah woah calm down. I just told you what I did, I did nothing." Kai said grabbing the suddenly hyper teen by the shoulders trying to hold her in place.

"But he said that someone went through his stuff! That proves that you did something!"" Shadow said before grinning. "Come on, I can keep a secret."

"I just told you, I didn't do anything. That was the prank." Kai said exasperated.

"But, he said someone." Once again, Kai cut her off.

"I know that. I _did_ open all his drawers and cabinets, but I didn't do anything else." Kai said slowly as though speaking to a young child.

"But, that means that he spent…" Understanding flashed across her face and her eyes went wide. "He spent the entire day looking for something that was never even there in the first place! You're a genus!" Shadow broke out laughing now that she understood the prank. "But what about Piper? How did you keep making her fall like that?"

"I put some dust from a Floater crystal in the soles of her boots. Not enough to make her float, but it was strong enough to make the ground slippery for her." Kai said before getting up.

"Hey! Where you going?" Shadow was enjoying her new friends company, after all most of the time it was just the Storm Hawks for weeks at a time, and even though they were all friends, sometimes it got to be a little boring.

"I need my sleep, it took a lot out of me getting by all of you guys security systems, I'll see you tomorrow ok?" Kai gave one last grin before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

"_Well, today sure was interesting. I wonder if he tutors."_ Shadow thought with a grin as she fell asleep.

End Chapter 11

AN: Yeah, I know it took awhile, but hey, times been on short supply as of late. It took me two weeks to get this chapter to feel the way I wanted it to, but I'm pretty happy with it. Please tell me what you think! Reviews are appreciated! Till next time, Ja Ne!


	12. Junko’s Journal!

Broken Wing

Junko's Journal!

Wow, it's been awhile since I updated this one, BUT FOR ONCE IT'S NOT MY FAULT! Some idiot ran into a telephone line with a bulldozer across from my house, so I haven't had a working phone line in almost three days! Currently it is (checks clock) 5:30 AM, and I haven't much time, but please accept this massive update as my apology for being absent for the past week. The other reason though is my fault….I can't really write Junko that well. He's just an odd character for me to write. He actually reminds me quite a bit of Naruto. Smarter than he lets on, but still acts like a little kid. I hope I don't mess him up too much.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and more than likely, I never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal, two Storm Hawks DVD's, and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Junko sat at his desk and looked though his journal entry's for the last seven days. He had started keeping it back when the Storm Hawks had first formed nearly two years ago, his memory was pretty good, but this helped him to remember little details.

This past week, he had had plenty to remember. Earlier that day, after staying aboard the Condor for a full week, Kai had left. It had been an interesting week to say the least.

"_Monday, July 5__th_

_Today, after several months of trying, Piper finally managed to get Starling to invite Kai to stay with us. I haven't really heard much about him, but I know that this has been bothering Piper since the Cabion attack. I still don't understand why it bugs her so bad. There are plenty of people we don't know, what makes him any different? Oh well, Starling radioed him, and he agreed. She said that he should be here in about two days."_

Before that day, Kai was a name that the Wallop had only heard from Piper, and on one occasion from Aerrow.

He turned the page, but the writing was a little fuzzy. Junko then remembered he was not wearing his glasses. After putting them on, he continued reading.

"_Tuesday, July 6__th_

_Starling sure has been acting weird today. She was practically pacing her way through the floor all morning. Does Kai coming here really upset her that much? She told us yesterday that they were friends; I would have thought that seeing a friend would make her happy? Piper probably didn't help much asking all those questions though. They really seemed to make Starling nervous. She said it was because they had fallen out of touch and hadn't spoken in a while, but for some reason, her eyes seemed to dim when she said this. Did he hurt her? If he did, he's going to pay."_

It had taken the Wallop the rest of the day to vent the anger from that thought. The only reason he had is because he had overheard Starling say something when he left the ships gym.

As chance would have it, her room was right next to the Condor's gym, so when it was really, really quiet, you could hear her through the air duct if you had sharp hearing. Aside from himself, Stork, Radarr and Griffy were the only others that could do this.

_Flashback_

Junko had decided to call it quits before he destroyed the gym. After taking a drink from his water bottle, he was about to leave when he heard something that made him freeze.

"_Is that…crying?"_ Junko furrowed his brow and took a few steps closer to the wall, and craned his neck so that his ear was just below the air vent.

_Sob_

Now Junko was angry. _"I knew it. Kai must have hurt her, that's why they haven't spoken in so long and why she doesn't talk about him. When he get's here tomorrow, I'll make sure that he."_ Junko's train of thought was derailed by what he heard Starling say however.

"What am I supposed to say to him? Sorry I kicked you out when you were hurting as badly as I was, but I had to go on a suicide mission?"

_Sob_

She choked back a few times before groaning.

"He…I still can't believe he actually came. After…after what I did….how could he…how?"

Junko, now puzzled, left the gym, granting Starling the privacy she had sought in her room.

After leaving the gym, he snuck into Piper's room and looked for a particular book, one that he had seen many times before, but never actually read. Finding it, he took it with him, and left a note telling Piper that he would return it later that afternoon.

_Flashback end_

Shaking his head, Junko continued to read that days entry.

"_I was glad that Piper told us she had a history book she was writing on the war, it's not done yet, but it does have a lot of useful stuff in it. I checked up on Starling, it turns out she had been assigned to infiltrate Cyclonia by the Sky Council because they were worried that war might break out. The day she was assigned to leave just happened to be the same day Cyclonia launched its initial assault. Terra Mesa was one of the terra attacked, and while civilian casualties were kept to a minimum, Starling was the sole survivor of the Interceptors. When reinforcements did arrive, she was found to be in the care of a civilian, who had claimed to have arrived the day before they had. According to him, he arrived and found the terra desolate and destroyed. After searching for the entire day, he had found Sky Knight Starling alive but unconscious in what was left of the Interceptor's HQ. She was then taken to Atmosian central medical, where she was released after two months of intensive care. The civilian that found her was taken into custody, but released after Sky Knight Starling; with the backing of evidence proved he had played no part in the attack._

_It could have been Kai that found her, and her being released two months after the wars start would mean that she had been undercover for nearly a month before we met up with her in our first mission. So that would mean that the Cabion incident would have been the first time she saw him in six months, and that was four months ago._

Junko shook his head sadly. They had tried to convince Starling to join them ever since first meeting her, but she refused each and every time. At least now she would stay with them every now and then, but she still seemed to be…hurting, injured almost.

"_Wednesday July 7__th_

_Starling's mystery friend finally arrived today, and Piper has been drilling us on what she wants us to do. I still don't get what her obsession is with the guy. Last time she got like this was when she tried to find information on some crystals a few years back. It turned out they weren't even real. She wants us to find out as much as we can about him while he's here, which is kind of strange. I guess there's nothing wrong with wanting to get to know someone better. Today he sparred with Aerrow in the gym. It was over pretty fast, faster than when Starling practices with him, but he was out of it for the rest of the day. But Starling seemed to cheer up a bit as the day went on, it's hard to believe that she was even crying yesterday."_

The way the two of them acted was strange. To Junko, it reminded him of how he and Finn were, but at the same time he couldn't help but see a tiny bit of Aerrow and Piper in the mix as well. They had a certain level of comfort in each others proximity that only came with being close friends, but, they also seemed to be very quite at times, especially when no one else was around. In fact, the only time they were near each other was when in a group. When it was just the two of them, they kept some distance from each other.

Looking down, Junko grinned as he read the next days events.

"_Thursday July 8__th_

_I don't know what happened, but all day weird things keep happening. First, I wake up and find a rubber duckie on my nightstand, I picked it up, but nothing seemed to be strange about. But then I couldn't put it down! Someone put glue on it I guess. Then, when I get to the kitchen, I find Aerrow with bright pink hair! If that wasn't enough, somebody raided Finn's closet and left him one of Piper's flight suits to wear. It was just so weird, I really thought that it was Kai and Shadow, but even they got pranked. Shadow has a white strip going down the middle of her hair, and Kai…well…somebody cut out the backside of his pants. I can't believe that he would have done that to himself, but anything's possible."_

That had been an interesting day to say the least. Of course the next day everything was back to normal, mostly.

"_Friday July 9__th_

_After yesterday, everyone is being a bit cautious. So far nothing has happened yet, but Piper has been following Kai around all day. Shadow said that she was stalking the poor guy, but she claimed it was surveillance. Isn't that the same thing? Starling caught onto it pretty quick though, and told me that Piper was wasting her time. "Kai is nearly impossible to sneak up on" she claimed, she should know I guess since she did train him. I asked her a little bit about them, but she seemed to be a bit worried. I told her that I was just curious how they knew each other, nothing else, and she told me a little bit._

_Never in a million years would I have guessed that this was the same kid we met four years ago. He doesn't look or act anything like him. Piper probably doesn't even realize that it's the same Kai she writes to every so often. No wonder we haven't seen him around. After finding out just who he was, I decided not to ask anything else; since I could tell she was uncomfortable with the subject."_

That had been a surprise. All along, they did know who he was, they just didn't realize it. Back four years ago, they had been shipped around from terra to terra, meeting with the different Sky Knight squadrons. He remembered terra Mesa pretty well, since it was one of the few that weren't boring. But he distinctly remembered Kai having blue eyes, not dull gold. Piper had actually been writing to him ever since they met. For her to not even realize it must have hurt him._ "But why hasn't he told us? I mean, it's almost like he doesn't want us to know who he is."_ Junko thought as he turned the page.

"_Saturday July 10__th_

_Something happened, I don't know what, but something must have happened. I saw Aerrow walking down the hallway and he was limping, I offered to help him, but he said that he was ok. Finn locked himself in his room and hasn't been seen since this morning and Stork was actually down in the hanger! I went to look for Piper or Shadow to try and get some answers, but Piper was locked up in her room, so that just left Shadow._

_After looking around for about an hour, I found her lying on the ground in front of the door to the bridge with a pair of Storks x-ray binoculars. When I tapped her to get her attention she jumped like I had caught her trying to take Aerrow's daggers. I asked what she was doing, but all she did was hand me the binoculars, look the other way and tell me to look into the bridge._

_Well, I was a bit surprised at what I saw. Apparently, Starling and Kai had fallen asleep on the couch. Kai was using Starling's lap as a pillow, while she had her head turned to the side, facing the door. I looked back to Shadow and saw that she had a few sheets of paper around her with what looked like sketches on them._

_Turned out she had been trying to draw them. A few of the sketches actually looked pretty good, but one in particular caught my attention. _

_The sketch was of a grey wolf curled up sleeping in the snow, with what looked like a small bird sleeping on top of its front paws, but under its head. The wolf had one eye cracked open, but didn't look angry at the small bird, in fact, it looked almost content at seeing it was there, and was actually using its head to block the snow from the small bird, keeping it warm._

_When Shadow saw that I was holding it she snatched it back and ran for her room. I wonder why she was drawing animals in one picture, but all the rest were of Starling and Kai?"_

Shadow still had yet to explain the picture. Frankly, he still didn't get it.

He smiled when he saw the next page.

"_Sunday July 11__th_

_Today we had to get some supplies for the Condor. Me, Finn and Aerrow were going to do it ourselves, since Starling and Kai were guests, and Piper…well…Piper was still acting strange. We were surprised when Kai offered to come along with us though, Starling was quick to say that she would come as well, Piper would have, but Aerrow said that someone had to stay behind in case of an emergency, and that it would be unfair to leave Stork alone with Shadow…we kind of promised never to do that to him again._

_On the way, Kai suggested that we have a race, which surprised us. Finn was quick to agree, and of course Aerrow never backs down from a challenge so he accepted. I knew that I couldn't win, so I wasn't going to bother, but Starling said that it had been a while since she had done a true race, so I agreed. It was actually pretty fun. Starling and Kai didn't go full out, which surprised me since I had seen their skimmers and knew what they could do. They seemed to be in it more for the fun of racing than actually seriously trying to win. Aerrow actually managed to get by them and was declared the winner once we landed. After that it didn't take long for us to find what we needed and to return._

_Of course Piper grilled us that night wanting to know everything that happened and was disappointed by how little actually happened."_

That had been a lot of fun. Junko could see now what it was people loved to race. There was just something that made it appealing. The competition, the speed, the cold air, he wasn't sure what it was, but something about racing seemed to speak to every flyer, young or old.

The following day had been fun too, Junko remembered.

"_Monday July 12__th_

_Piper asked if Kai wanted to join us for our weekly team training exercises. Starling seemed to be even more nervous about this than she had been with anything else the week so far, and asked if he was sure, since he didn't have to. Kai smiled and replied that he was interested in seeing just what it was that we did that kept us in such good shape._

_We started with aerial keep away, which was interesting. Kai had not expected it, but he did his best once he figured out what exactly was going on. The additional skimmer made the game a bit more difficult since it was now six against whoever had the crystal instead of the usual four. Starling and Kai both seemed intent on winning, Starling more than usual. But as always, Piper won due to no one being brave enough to try and snatch it from her. Kai and Finn actually agreed on something for once, both claiming that since a heliscooter had a top blade, it was cheating._

_Then we had scary face, which Kai, Shadow and Finn turned into silly face. Aerrow surprised us by winning, since normally he doesn't do that good. He pulled his shirt up so that his head was no long seen and had Radarr sit on his shoulders, so it looked like Aerrow's head had been transformed into a sky monkeys."_

Junko smiled when he remembered seeing everyone fall to the ground laughing, everyone except Stork, who of course thought Aerrow's head really had transformed.

Turning the page, Junko's smile slipped when he reached the last entry, today's.

"_Tuesday July 13__th_

_Today was Kai's last day here. He claimed that he couldn't stay much longer and that he had something to take care of. We said our goodbyes in the hanger, but when Starling gave a short wave and a smile, he snorted. We were surprised to seem him walk up her, and hug her, he actually hugged her. When they separated, he said something before turning to us and after giving a slight bow; he hopped onto his skimmer, and took off. Starling wouldn't tell anyone what it was that he had said to her, she would just smile and shake her head whenever Piper or Finn would ask. I think this week was fun, we got to meet someone we haven't seen in a long time, and made a new friend at the same time."_

Junko smiled one last time before placing both his journal and his glasses in his nightstand drawer, turned off his lamp, and went to sleep.

End chapter

AN: Well, that was my first big attempt at writing Junko. He's still my weakest character in writing, but I have a basic understanding of him. I hope this chapter wasn't too bad. Also, there are still two chapters left in this miniseries, two last characters that we haven't heard from yet. Be on the look out for the next chapter: Kai's Keeper, and the exciting conclusion of this eight part story: Starling's Shadow. After those two chapters are out, I will be taking a small break from Broken Wing. No it is not on hiatus, or canceled, I still have plenty of ideas. I just don't have time to juggle all of my stories at once. Total Drama Terra! and Wind's of Change are my top priority right now, followed by One Year Flight. This is because these stories actually have an ending, whereas Broken Wing and Yesteryears do not. So, please review! They help me keep writing and I always take ideas in for consideration, so long as they are within reason. Till next time, Ja Ne!


	13. Bird’s of a Feather

Bird's of a Feather

I know that I said I would have two more chapters of 'Kai visits the Condor' left, but I scrapped the idea. The entire point was to give readers the chance to see Kai and Starling's interactions through the eyes of the Storm Hawks, and having a chapter from Starling or Kai's POV wouldn't have fitted, so that mini arch is over. This chapter will be a prequel of sorts for ShadowQueen25's story, Daughter Of Darkness. It takes place slightly before and during chapter three. It will provide a little more detail and dive into the murky depths of Kai's mind. Please keep in mind that this is an alternate universe from the one that you all are used to reading about, a different world. So things will be a bit different. The main differences will be that Kai has not yet met Shadow…..and both he and this world are much darker. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do Not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story. Shadow and Griffey are the property of ShadowQueen25.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

The strong winds were driving the rain into Kai's face. For the most part he was warm, but since it was so close to night fall he had to remove his flight goggles in order to see well.

"_Come on where are you?" _

Looking everywhere around him, Kai kept his eyes open for something. He didn't know what exactly, but he knew there was something here, something that did not belong here. He had been living in Terra Deep for a little over five years and the war was now over; at least that's what the Sky Council was telling everyone. The truth was that the main battle had been won, but the war was far from over.

Without a powerful figurehead to lead them Cyclonia had fallen apart, scattering like the seeds of a dandelion across a field. The problem was that now instead of a single large nation, there were now dozens and dozens of small factions, each operating independently of the others. And trying to fight them was like trying to play whack a mole blindfolded.

"I wish I at least had some clue as to what I'm looking for." Kai muttered under his breath. He was starting to get sore from the cold, not that it actually hurt him, it was just annoying, like the fact that his seat was wet.

"_Ok think Kai, you were enjoying a nice calm afternoon by yourself, Lee and Dawne came by and told me they had news on one of the larger Cyclonian factions, then IT hit. Whatever it is, it must be alive, or else she would have warned me about it years ago. If it's alive, then it's on the move, so it will be even harder to find. I can't focus my hearing because of the blasted rain and my sense of smell is useless in this kind of wind. I'll just have to trust my instincts."_ Closing his eye's for a moment Kai was able to feel a slight tug on his being. It wasn't much, but it was there. Opening his eye's Kai grinned.

"I've found you."

I took him about ten minutes to reach the source of the tug. Whatever it was, it was at the surface, upon one of the crystal towers that made up Terra Deep. Pulling back the on the skimmer Kai climbed up towards the peaks of the columns. The sense was stronger now. He could tell it was not hostile, in fact the aura felt, weak, then suddenly it flared up. It was like a candle about to burn out, on its last few seconds of wick. Once he cleared the top of the crystal tower he could see a figure setting on the edge.

He could tell it was a humanoid, but not much more than that. Quickly he shifted the skimmer into its land mode and landed it behind an outcropping of crystal.

"_Whoever it is, they're really zoned out if they couldn't hear me landing behind them."_ Kai thought as hopped off the skimmer.

The person was about twenty yards away, but he could see that they were not alone. A second figure was hunched down beside the first, far too small to be human.

"_Must be a pet or something."_

Shaking his head Kai marched towards the person, intent on discovering just why they were here. Ever since the Murk Raiders had been hunted down and eradicated, terra Deep had become a hiding ground for many that wished to remain hidden.

Due to his past, Kai knew that this was about as close to having a terra under his protection that he would ever get. Not that he would want to be a Sky Knight if given the chance.

Not anymore anyways.

Kai stopped once he was about ten feet away, and caught part of what the person was saying to their companion.

"I just don't even want to live anymore."

Alarm bells went off in Kai's head. _"What is going on here?"_

As soon as he saw the person spread out their arms, the warning bells became klaxon alarms.

"_Oh no! Not in my terra you're not!"_ Kai thought in anger.

"What on Atmos are you _doing_?!" Kai shouted as he closed the last few feet separating them.

The person flinched and their arms shot up to cover their face.

"Go away!"

"_Ok, so it's a girl and she's upset. Duh, why else would she have been about to…."_

"Are you trying to kill yourself?!" Kai shouted, hoping to get her angry. He knew the one sure fire thing that would snap any girl out of depression was anger. And even if it was directed at him, it was better than the alternative.

The girl spun around to face him and threw her arms out to her sides.

"_Well, at least she's not going to jump."_ Kai mentally sighed and prepared himself for the storm front he had just unleashed on himself.

"What does it matter to you?! Just go back to your perfect little life where everyone cares and loves you and forget me, because I don't matter to anybody!" She screamed.

Kai watched as fresh tears started poring from her eyes and several powerful sobs racked her body, and for the first time actually saw her. Before he had been too focused on stopping her from doing something stupid, but now he had the chance to actually study her.

She was close to his age; he figured that she was a few years younger than him, but not by much. Based on her uniform, he guessed that she was part of a squadron, though he couldn't make out the insignia from where he stood. The only other thing he could tell was that she had no physical injuries, since he couldn't see any blood on her. After giving her a once over, noting where all her weapons were, he turned partially away to give her some privacy, but kept her in the corner of his vision.

A few minutes passed, but Kai waited patiently. He didn't have to worry about getting sick, but at the same time he didn't enjoy flying home soaking wet. When the girl finally seemed to get control of herself, she looked up at him, slightly surprised that he was still there and hadn't left.

"Who…who are you?" She asked hiccupping.

Trying not to appear hostile, Kai took a deep breath and turned to face her fully.

"Kai. And who are you, since you enjoy screaming so much?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood a little.

She sniffed for a second to try and calm a bit more, but it didn't seem to help her any.

"Why does it matter? You'll probably blame me for something like who my family is or I'm stupid…" She muttered.

Kai's face shifted from neutral to a midlevel glare.

"Why does that matter? Just tell me who you are, then I'll react" He retorted.

The girl sighed before answering.

"My name is Shadow. And… I need somewhere to stay." She said looking down at her feet.

"_She was about ready to throw herself off the side a minute ago, now she needs a place to stay? It could be a trap…."_

"Do you have anything to do with the Sky Knight council?" He asked, watching her for any flinch or reaction. Her response was not what he had expected however.

"Why do you think I'm in the rain?" She deadpanned.

Seeing that she was at the very least, not a spy sent after him, he shook his head.

"Alright come on. Let's get you dry. I don't entertain much and I don't do nursemaid."

Shadow nodded her head and went back to her skimmer. Looking around, she quickly spotted Kai's, she was a little taken back when she saw the insignia he flew, but decided that for right now, she didn't care.

"_The Council's already after me because of my father."_ She thought sadly.

"_Who cares if I'm given refuge by a Murk Raider?"_

End of chapter.

AN: Yeah, this was different I know, but I had promised to do this for ShadowQueen25 a while back, and it sort of slipped away. Sorry SQueen! Like I said before, this is a different storyline that my other works so far, and I might return to do more with it in the future, after all an antihero version of Kai that is the last of the Murk Raiders is a good plot. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed it, I still have some other promises to keep. The next few chapters will be a mini ach that takes place in the normal universe, it just happens to be ten years in the future. *Winks at ExNarrator01*


	14. Tigger's Big Day! Part I

Broken Wing

Chapter 14 Tigger's Big Day! Part 1

AN: Ok, I know this chapter is wayyy overdue, especially since it was something I had asked for permission to do this around the time I started writting. This chapter is an expansion on chapter five from Mrs J Black's story Tigger and The Rock Hearts All grown up. So I suggest you read her story first before reading this chapter.

Credits

Tigger, Aladd, Kurk and Luke belongs to Mrs J Black.

Rondana belongs to Miss Dedodakes.

Scarlett belongs to LoveFlame.

Marina belongs to Nuts for Star Wars.

Shadow belongs to ShadowQueen25

Kai belongs to me!

Note some of these will only be mentioned, not all of them will have a part in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, also I don't own A however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Kai was a bit nervous.

Ok so nervous was a bit of an understatement, he was borderline scared straight.

It had been ten years since the fall of Cyclonia, and eleven years since he had joined up with a motley little crew of teens and young adults to save Atmosia from another of Larks evil plots. He had joined up with the Rock Hearts several times to help them over the years, though he never actually _joined_ them.

He was still flying solo, but he had become more open over the years, even making a few friends along the way. He had fought many battles, defeated many enemies and overcome many of the hurdles, though he still had his fair share.

But none of that came anywhere close to this, not by a long shot.

Looking down Kai reread the slip of paper that a messenger hawk had dropped into his lap. There in fancy writing between two doves carrying a branch wrapped in a golden ribbon was a message that he had never expected in a million years to ever see.

"_You are cordially invited to the impending nuptials of Tigerlily Mongolia and Luke Eaglee. Also by request of the bride to be, you are here by informed of your status as a Groomsman for the ceremony."_

"What on Atmos am I going to do?" Kai groaned as he slumped into the chair of his ship the _Mirage_.

"Why is she marrying Luke, I thought she was with that bonehead Aladd?" Looking back at the invitation he saw that he needed to be at Terra Tropica in a few days to help set up for the reception.

_Groan_

"Let's see what happens this time." Kai was vaguely able to recall the this was not the first time he had received an invitation from Tigger for her wedding, and that the previous one had been…bad to say the least. Aladd hadn't even bothered to show up, and considering that he was the _Groom_ of all things made it indefinitely worse. One of the qualities Kai had developed over the years was that he had become very protective of those he considered friends and comrades. After the third time Tigger had allowed Kai to join their ranks, she had become just that, his comrade in arms, though he would never admit it out loud.

Not even knowing who he was, she had allowed him to join them the first time, the second and third time she still had not known much about him, but treated him like she had anyone else. It had taken every ounce of self control he had to resist hunting down the swine Aladd after he hadn't bothered to show up for the wedding, but Tigger had begged everyone there not to hurt him, and so he honored her wish.

This however was not why he was nervous. The cause for his fear was due to a combination of the request and his nature. He was a loner, a shadow, he watched from a distance and helped when not being watched, that was the way he was, that was the way he liked things to be. Being a groomsman meant that he would be at the front of the ceremony, standing before the eyes of quite a few people, something he did not like in the least. But he would do his best and help however he could.

"I just hope the tux still fits, it's been awhile since I wore the blasted thing." Reaching over he set the auto pilot on and went to his room to begin searching for infernal monkey suite his mother had given him so many years back.

Two days later he arrived at Terra Tropica, and was about to land behind the Condor before remembering how Stork was about anyone parking close to the vessel, so he moved a few spaces down before settling the ship down.

"_Ok its night so most people should be asleep."_

Even though the war had been over for quite a few years, Kai had grown accustom to his armored flight suite, so he still wore it most of the time, he had thought it might be seen as odd, but he was thankful to see that he was not the only one. Most Sky Knights and their squadrons still wore the garb, so at least he was not alone.

"Kai? Is that you?"

Turning around Kai came face to face with one of the few people he called 'friend'.

"Rondana?"

"We haven't seen each other in over a year and that's all you have to say? Ugh your personal skills still need a lot of work." The dark haired, blue eyed beauty gave him a punch to the shoulder before laughing at his slight scow.

"Seriously where have you been? The others were getting worried about you, after the war you just kind of, well disappeared, again."

"I still had a lot on my mind, a lot of things changed that day, for all of us." Kai was trying to avoid the subject, he like many others tried their best to forget that period of time entirely.

"You never did tell us why you ran off before the victory ceremony even started, what happened?"

Kai turned to avoid her gaze. Being a doctor she had an uncanny ability to get people to open up and talk, after several uncomfortable conversations Kai had finally figured out it was her eyes that allowed her to do it, if he avoided her eyes, she couldn't get anything out of him.

It wasn't that he was trying to hurt her; he just wanted to avoid the subject, for now at least. The two shared a special bond, one only formed by two people that have risked their lives together. In the years he had spent fighting he had formed several others, those being Starling, Suzi, Billy, Piper, Aerrow, Tigger, Kurk, and Shadow. After Aladd left Tigger waiting at the altar, Kai chose to sever the bond between them and avoided the man whenever he could.

Even if it meant no longer using the fly through at Sky Burger.

"You should talk about it some time, it would help." With that, she turned and walked into the hotel they would all be staying at until after the wedding.

Kai shook his head and entered the lobby to get his room key, intent of dropping of his duffle bag before searching for Tigger.

"WATCH OUT!!" Kai turned just in to see Finn barreling down the hall on a dolly going by at break neck speed. Reacting quickly he pushed himself flush against the wall and watched as it passed less then an inch from his face.

"FINN I TOLD YOU THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!" The next thing he heard was a loud series of thumps, followed by the large figure of Junko in a full run trying to catch up.

Kai could do nothing but shake his head and chuckle. _"It's nice to see some things will never change."_

It only took him a little while to find his room. _"Room number 413, here it is."_ Looking around Kia could see that the rooms were nice, nothing big or overly extravagant, but it was still much better than his ship.

Seeing the large bed, Kai grinned. "I'll look for Tigger tomorrow." Kai fell face first into the bed and quickly welcomed the dark embrace of sleep.

*Rinnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggg*

Out of pure reflex Kai shot out his right fist and smashed the offending item. In the back of his mind he made a mental note to apologize for destroying the alarm clock.

Twenty minutes later Kai was setting in the lobby floor eating breakfast with the others. Finn had to eat with chopsticks since his silverware had been taken away. (To prevent him from starting a food fight.) He was only half listening to what everyone else was talking about, more interested in his free meal, that was until he heard his name called out over the voices of the other guest.

"Kai! Yo you awake in there?"

"Hm? Oh Tigger didn't see you come in. Everything alright?" Kai could see she had a worried expression on her face._ "Of course she's worried, her wedding is tomorrow you idiot!"_

"More or less, the others have finished putting everything together, and most of what is left can't be done until tomorrow, but I did have something I needed for you to do, if you don't mind that is." She was smiling, but he could still see the worry etched in her face clear as day.

"Not at all, I don't see what help I could give though, you have quite a few people here and a Wallop to boot." Kai gestured towards the other guest at the table.

"Well, you see, um…look, your one of the groomsmen, so that means you're going to be in a lot of the photos for this." She waited to see how he would respond.

"I kind of figured that, don't worry I won't cloak when the flash goes off or anything like that." Kai offered a small smile.

"Well, that's not really the problem." She could see that he was confused by this statement and sighed. "Look, I'm just going to say it outright, you're as pale as a Lunar crystal, I want you to tan up for the photos. I don't want you to fade into the background, and don't say you won't." When she finished speaking Tigger pulled out a photo and handed it to Kai.

Looking at it he winced for a second. The picture was from a few hours before the ceremony ten years ago. Everyone looked tired and beaten, but they all had huge grins and smiles plastered on their faces. Kai however it was hard to tell. His skin was the same color as the beach sand, so all that could be seen was his dark hair and eyes.

"This is my wedding, and I don't want one of my friends to be a floating wig with blue eyes. I want you to be at least a few shades darker before the end of today or so help me I will lock you in a tanning booth until you make Junko look like he's albino! Do I make myself clear!" Kai knew that glare, but this was the first time it had been fired in his direction, usually it was reserved for Finn or even more frequently, Aladd.

"Alright alright, don't worry, I promise that I won't step a foot indoors until after sundown." It might have been in his opinion a strange request, but even he had to admit that he looked like a ghost in the old photo. This was her day and it was a small thing to ask.

"Hey! Why did we have to do the heavy lifting and he just has to get a tan!? I'm a groomsman too!" Finns voice could be heard loud and clear through the banter of the others.

Tigger spun around and leveled a fierce glare that Lark would have been proud of at the blond trouble maker. "You still haven't paid me back yet for my Heliblade that's why! So ether you do grunt work, or you pay me up front, it's up to you." Even though she was smiling sweetly, anyone listing could hear the edge in her voice.

Finn of course sat back down and grumbled while everyone else just laughed.

An hour later, Kai was face up on a towel almost in a sleep like state. He was awake, just extremely calm and relaxed. It wasn't something he was used to, but he enjoyed it all the same, he would have enjoyed it even more if Finn would have left him alone. The young man might have filled out and grown in skill, but he still acted like a six year old. In under an hour he had challenged and been turned down by every person on the beach to a surfing contest, yet he refused to give up. The sound of his feet running around reminded Kai of a little mouse scurrying about, causing Kai to chuckle a few times.

"Hey mind sharing some rays?"

Turning around Kai saw a familiar set of playful golden eyes surrounded by a mane of spiky jet colored hair.

"Scarlett? Where have you been hiding? I thought for sure you'd been up this morning, I didn't even know you were here." Kai quickly sat up to talk to his old friend.

Most people would have sworn that the two were brother and sister; they had looked almost like for so long that they could have passed as twins. This was purely by coincidence, but the two did get along very well.

"So how have things been? We haven't seen you in a while, everything ok?" She laid out a towel of her own a few feet away and put down a bowl of chips before plopping down.

"That seems to be the question everyone is asking. Yes I am fine, no nothing is wrong. What about you? Everything alright?" He was trying his best to not come off as rude, but he didn't like people digging too much into his personal life.

The girl shrugged. "Things are pretty much the same here. After the war ended everything settled down and got quiet, dull really." The girls face scrunched a bit.

"Let me guess, you've been bored out of your mind right?" Kai couldn't hold back a slight laugh when he saw her face. "Same here if it's any consolation, it's one of the reasons I've been away, I just can't seem to believe it's all over, that Cyclonia is no longer a threat, and that it's alright to sleep without one eye open at night."

"I know what you mean, every time things get real quiet I keep expecting some ambush or random attack." She was about to continue when she noticed the Kai was no longer paying attention to her, but something behind her.

"Is that Starling?" Kai asked.

"I think Aerrow invited her," Scarlett said, digging into the bowl of chips. "Where's Finn?"

"I dunno." Marina said. "Better get back to Gerudo- Naboroou, Alia, Nidia, Kaida, and Lia are waiting."

"Don't go yet!" Tigger said. "Come on, Finn and Junko are having a burping contest and I'm forcing Stork to sing the "DOOM" song...

"Where are the snacks?" Marina asked.

"Did you guys just come here to pig out?"

They all nodded.

"Whatever." Tigger walked away and Marina went off to find some snacks.

When Scarlett looked back she saw that Kai was still staring at Starling. "Hello! Anybody home up there? Atmos to Kai hello!"

Kai quickly turned his attention back to Scarlett. "Yes?"

"You ok? You're acting like you've never seen her before, besides I though you two were….you know." Scarlett like every other person in their group was aware that something was going on between the two, but Starling never gave any details and Kai had been MIA so not much was known.

"Well to be fair, I have never seen her, not in a two piece. The few times we went swimming before she became an Interceptor, and the even fewer times afterwards she always wore a one piece or wet suit. As for the second part, I don't know what you're talking about."

Not many people would have seen it, not unless they knew him very well, but for a brief second there was a flash of pain the crossed his features. To Scarlett, this tiny flash might as well been a search light.

"Oh come on, it's not like some big secret. You're pretty obvious about it, and the two of you have known each other for a long time now. Some of the others have sworn that they saw the two of you over the years but you always disappear when they try to catch up with you. So spill!" The young woman had grabbed Kai by the shoulders and was shaking him by this point.

"I've wondered about you two myself" Kai turned to see who had spoken when he let out a groan.

"Eva, Sara don't you two have anything better to do then gossip about people's lives?" Kai asked with just a hint of annoyance in his voice.

The two girls turned to look at each other before answering. "No."

"Besides this is what we do to pass time." Sara explained.

"Yeah and I've got twenty ridding on the same bet." Eva said.

"Hello girls." Finn winked as he set his surf board into the sand.

Making use of the distraction Kai snuck away from the growing group. _"I never thought I would ever say this, but Finn, I owe you one."_

Making sure that he wasn't being followed, Kai quickly moved away from the others and down the large hill that separated the beach from the hotel parking lot.

Taking a deep breath to relax, Kai felt two arms wrap around him tightly from behind, and a head prop itself on his shoulder.

"Hey Star.".

"This is the welcome I get? I haven't seen you in close to a month," Starling asked with a teasing pout.

"I know…I'm…sorry."

Sighing, Starling tightened her grip.

"Myna is asking about you again. She misses her daddy."

If it was possible, Kai's shoulders sagged further than they had earlier.

"Where is she? I know you didn't bring her with you?" Kai asked, still mostly neutral.

"She's staying with 'Auntie Suzie and Uncle Billy' for the week. I swear, sometimes I have to fight them just to get her back, and she's my kid," Starling said with a small laugh.

Kai snickered. "Well, what did you expect? You know how Blizzarian's are about kin, and they _are_ family."

"Oh, that reminds me, Suzi wanted to know why you haven't dropped by. She misses seeing you around every now and then, especially around…_that_ anniversary."

"_Great, I completely forgot about her father, again. Way to go Kai."_

"I know. I'll try to stop by soon, I promise."

"You've been saying that quite a bit lately. Something up?"

Kai's face brightened ever so slightly. "It's almost over Star. Just a few more weeks, and it'll be over."

Again Starling sighed. "Look, Kai, we've been over this a thousand times. Nothing bad is going to happen. Why can't you just relax?"

Shaking his head, Kai pulled free from her grip.

"Its not that I don't trust you, its _them_ that I don't trust. They've been after me for almost fifteen years Star, and I don't think they're going to let up on their own."

Starling chuckled. "So you're going to make them?"

Kai grinned back. "In a sense. They're going to make themselves. Then…I'll be able to keep my promises…most of them anyway."

Rolling her eyes, Starling let out an 'unlady' like snort.

"I told you, there was nothing wrong with our wedding. I don't need some big show for the world to see, unless this is just to get back at the Council," Starling teased.

Kai frowned.

"A wedding is supposed to be something sacred, something that two people will treasure for the rest of their lives. I hardly call what we had anything close to that."

"So? What if it wasn't? I seem to recall it met all the requirements," Starling teased as she leaned against the wall of the hotel.

"Oh come on Star, you can't honestly say you were happy with that. It was in the middle of a battle! Our witnesses were Aerrow and Piper!"

"Still, it met the legal requirements." Starling said with a sing a song voice.

"Fine, I just don't like the fact that Lark was the one to conduct it ok. I know it counted, but I wanted to give you something…well…special."

Kai noticed that her smile was actually genuine as she laughed, not forced.

"It was, how many people can say they had the leader of an enemy nation marry them during the middle of a battle?"

Kai, despite the fact he still felt pretty lousy couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess your right. I just wish I could have been there more often. Missing your daughter's first steps, words, heck, I half expected her to be in high school before the Council got around to pardoning all of the Cyclonian's who served under Lark."

Kai looked down at Starling's wrist and chuckled. "Has anyone even noticed?"

Again, Starling laughed. "Aside from Aerrow, Piper and Lark, no. You would have thought that somebody would have noticed after ten years." Starling found herself twisting the two _silver_ bangles on her left arm, while her gaze settled on the two _gold_ ones on Kai's.

"So how do we play this tomorrow? Denying friends for life or what?" He asked, trying to break the silence.

Starling tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Just like old times then?"

Kai laughed. "Just like old times."

The two quickly parted and went their separate ways, not even looking back to the other as they went. This was an act they had perfected long ago, though on occasion both wondered if that was a good thing.

Junko sneezed.

"Are there any Murk raiders around?"

"We're all doomed," Stork and Eva said at the same time.

"We're going to be kidnapped by Murk raiders," Eva said.

"Then eaten alive by monsters once they dispose of us," Stork added.

"Our deaths will be slow-"

"-and painful-"

"-and we won't have time to say goodbye to our dearest friends-"

"-and we will regret every moment of our lives-

"our aching-"

"-horrible-"

"-awful lives-"

"Relax!" Rondana said, "I just finished dusting is all."

"Oh." Eva said.

Rondana was thankful that the others were so gullible for once, and hadn't even noticed that she didn't have a duster or rag on hand. With a sigh of relief, she watched the exchange between Kai and Starling and snorted before turning to leave.

"_Nothing going on huh?"_

End chapter

AN: Ok, I bet some of you are scratching your heads trying to figure out what's going on. This story takes place ten years after the war ended (duh) so things are a bit different. I'm not going into details, but yes, at this point Kai and Starling are married, and have been for ten years. Myna is 5 in case you're wondering. There will be a second part to this (also, duh) that will cover what happened at Tigger's wedding. Now, to find out more about what's going with Kai and Starling, you'll just have to wait till I get that far in writing. Consider this and the next chapter a glimpse into the future lol.


	15. Tigger's Big Day! PartII

Broken Wing

Chapter 15 Tigger's Big Day! Part II

AN: Ok, I know this chapter is wayyy overdue, especially since it was something I had asked for permission to do this around the time I started writing. This chapter is an expansion on chapters 6 and 7 from Mrs J Black's story Tigger and The Rock Hearts All grown up. So I suggest you read her story first before reading this chapter if you want the big picture. It's written in the name of fun, and while cannon to my other Storm Hawk's works, it shouldn't be taken anywhere near as seriously.

Credits

Tigger, Aladd, Kurk and Luke belongs to Mrs J Black.

Rondana belongs to Miss Dedodakes.

Scarlett belongs to LoveFlame.

Marina belongs to Nuts for Star Wars.

Shadow belongs to ShadowQueen25

Kai belongs to me!

Note some of these will only be mentioned, not all of them will have a part in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, also I don't own A however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

Starling stretched in the morning sun as she tried to shake the last few vestiges of sleep from her system. She knew that today was going to be difficult, that was a no brainer. But what worried her wasn't so much the fact that it was going to be a bad day, but rather, the _reason_ it was going to be a bad day.

The wedding.

Today was Tigger's wedding, and as with everything else their group was involved in, things were bound to go awry. For starters, there were going to be a large number of Sky Knights _and_ Cyclonians present. Second, Finn was present. (Finn was known and regarded as a category five accident in progress at all times.) And third, it was a _wedding_.

She herself had no problem with attending weddings. She didn't particularly care for them, but that was due to the fact that she was not a romantic by nature and she frequently found herself board to tears by the end of the ceremony. No, the problem lay with her friend of many years, and now husband of ten years Kai.

In her heart, she knew that every wedding he went to was like a stab to his pride, but no matter how many times she reminded him that she was happy, no matter how many times she tried to knock some sense into that thick head of his, it never seemed to get through.

"_I swear, when this is over I'm going to knock him out and drag his unconscious hide to some deserted terra and MAKE him take a vacation."_

Yes, they did have their issues, that was a given, but theirs were a bit…different from most peoples. (Like everything else in life for them it seemed.) She had thought to herself on more than one occasion.

The events surrounding how they came together would normally drive two people apart, and after everything else they had gone through, it was a wonder they had even attempted _any_ form of relationship with _anyone_, let alone each other.

Looking down at the two silver bangles on her right arm however, Starling smiled warmly.

"_But, for all his faults, he does try his best."_

Starling also had a unique stance on their relationship. She was a bit more patient and willing to put up with his quarks than most people would have. This of course was due to the patience _he_ had endured for _her_.

When Piper had asked her why she put up with him being gone for weeks at a time without hearing so much as a word from him, her response had floored the young girl.

Flashback

"Starling, are you sure that everything's ok?" Piper asked, casting a worried glance at the gyms now thoroughly destroyed punching bag, then back to the huffing Sky Knight.

"Of course Piper, I just needed to…vent a little bit. Nothing to worry about." Starling said sitting up and catching her breath.

"Uh hu, and Finn is only a little annoying when he gets on the karaoke machine. What's wrong? You know that you can trust me right?"

Starling let out an agitated sigh.

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with Piper. I can handle this myself."

Piper's eyes flashed.

"It's Kai isn't it?"

Starling didn't respond.

"What happened? Did he leave again for another mission?"

Starling still didn't respond.

Piper groaned. "I still don't know why you put up with him. He's your friend, and I can respect that, but," Piper never got to finish her sentence.

"Why do I put up with him? Piper, he waited for _me_, he put his life on hold for _me_. How could I look him in the eye if I were unable to wait for him for just a few days when he waited _three years_ for me?"

Flashback end

Frowning for a moment, Starling quickly found herself grinning as a though came to her. A very sneaky and very fun thought.

"_Maybe this could be a wedding for two?"_ Starling thought as she held up the...'unique' bridesmaid dress over herself as she stood in front of her rooms mirror.

Kai groaned as he massaged his temples.

"_As soon as I get proof that Finn spiked the drinks last night, I'm going to make him take a long walk off a short plank," _Kai thought through the oddly intensified hazy pain of the morning.

Today was not a day Kai was looking forward to. He knew that the whole thing was going to be a fiasco at best. But more importantly, at least to him anyways, it would mean yet another reminder of how much he still had to make up to Starling.

To see the bridesmaids and groomsmen lined up, the crowd of people, it all felt like a kick to the gut for him.

"_She deserved better than that,"_ Kai thought to himself.

Their wedding would probably go down in history as the single most hair brained scheme to have ever been imagined, and he doubted that it would be surpassed by even the likes of Finn or even Aladd.

After capturing Lark, Kai, knowing what it would mean for the war to end, put his plan into action.

In less than a minute, he proposed to Starling, denounced himself from Free Atmos, and pledged his allegiance to Cyclonia. He then explained his plan to the others, which was difficult at best. He was finally able to get Lark to agree and help after explaining how it would allow her one last 'kick' at the Sky Council that they could do nothing about (earning a disapproving glare from Aerrow and a wicked grin from Piper.)

That was how minutes later, on the bridge of Lark's ship, with Aerrow and Piper as witnesses, the two exchanged vows and a second bangle. Piper wrote up a license for the two, which all five notarized.

When the victory celebration was about to begin, Kai ventured out on what he knew would be his most important mission yet. Infiltrating the Cyclonian archives to plant the marriage license without being seen or caught by the guards the Sky Council had stationed there.

It was difficult, but he had managed to pull it off, and fly off to meet with some old friends one last time.

Shaking his head, Kai grinned at the mirror. _"It might not have been what she deserved, but soon, that won't matter anymore."_

Remembering the events of last night, Kai used what mental power he had left to force his emotional mask back into place. Now was not the time to let things get out, not when they were so close.

_Knock knock_

Sighing to himself, Kai made his way to the door, praying that it wasn't Finn, or even worse, Aladd.

"Yes what is it…Starling?"

Sure enough, standing in the hallway was Starling in her Bridesmaid dress leaning against the doorframe.

"You keep going on about wanting to give me a real wedding…" Seeing her smirk, Kai knew trouble was just around the corner.

A few hours later, everything was set and the music began playing.

One by one, the groomsmen and bridesmaids made their way down the aisle. Part of Kai's mind was trying to get over the fact that Finn had _actually_ lived up to the bet Aladd had made with him the previous night.

While the others were in their tux's and dresses, Finn came strolling down the aisle in his swim trunks, much to the dismay of the others, especially Aladd who had bet a decent sized bag of gold that he wouldn't.

Kai mentally noted to collect his winnings later.

The other part of his mind was trying to figure out if Starling had been serious about this. In the years following the war, due in no small part to her association with Piper, and continued exposure to Suzi, Starling had developed a very interesting sense of humor. One that sometimes made him wonder if she had been replaced by a clone of some sort.

"_No way she would joke about something like that…would she?"_

Looking to his side, and seeing only a pleasant smile on her face, and not a trace of humor, he decided that she had in fact been serious.

"_I just hope this one doesn't end like the first one,"_ Kai thought worriedly.

He had been so preoccupied by his thoughts, that had it not been for Starling suddenly pulling back on his arm he would have tripped over Christi, who had stepped on her dresses skirt and fallen just seconds before.

Sending Starling a look saying 'thanks for the save' he held back chuckling at her replying look.

'What would you do without me?'

Before the ceremony could begin however, just as both Kai and Starling had predicted, there was one problem after another.

Lark's attempted assassination of Aerrow, the short brawl that came from the guards removing her from the building, Ronnie and Bella throwing flowers at the guests rather than the aisle, then throwing their (now empty) baskets at the one person who actually complained about them. Following this, Tyler almost swallowed the brides ring, and Lee had apparently succeeded in getting his hands on some helium resulting in him turning into a human super bounce ball of destruction.

Kai shot Starling a disbelieving look, to which she fired back 'now do you understand?'

Seconds later, Tigger entered with her father.

Two seconds later, she burst into tears.

Two minutes later, the building exploded.

An hour later, and the group had moved the ceremony to the Reception area down on the beach.

Kai's tux was slightly singed, and Starlings dress was a bit charred around the edges, but everyone had made it out of the chapel in one piece.

Shaking his head, Kai looked over at Tigger. He felt bad for the girl. This was supposed to have been her day, but, just like everything else in her life, it seemed to have fallen under some inexplicable curse.

"_Well, Starling didn't say anything about the plan being off, so I guess its still on,"_ Kai mused.

They listened to the Bishop droll on and on for what seemed like hours, until the ceremony came to its conclusion.

"In sickness or heath."

Both Kai and Starling whispered the words so that only the other could hear.

"In rich or poor,"

Again, the two whispered the lines.

"In salami or tuna…."

Kai and Starling, along with every other person present slowly turned to look at the Bishop.

"Sorry, I had to skip breakfast."

"Who has salami for breakfast?" Luke asked.

"I DO! AND IF YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED I SUGGEST YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" The bishop yelled. "In waffles or pizza..."

And after a series of food groups, the crowd became very bored and somebody threw him a sub.

"Do you, Luke, agree to take Tigerlily Mongolia as your lawfully wedded wife?"

Looking over at Starling, Kai mouthed. 'I do.'

"And you, Tigger, agree to..."

"STOP THE FREAKIN' WEDDING!"

Aladd burst in, causing Tigger to scream in anger.

Kai gaped as he watched everything fall apart at the seams, while Starling sported a bored expression before yawning.

Looking over at her, Kai didn't even get to ask the question.

"I do, we did, and lets get out of here before they notice were gone," Starling whispered to the still stunned Kai with a kiss before taking off.

A second later, she returned and grabbed him by the arm and dragged him with her.

"When I said lets get out of here, I meant you too," she said with a feathery laugh.

Kai just shook his head and tried to keep up with her.

"Starling, promise me that we'll never go to another wedding again, I don't think my sanity could take it," Kai said with a chuckle.

Looking over her shoulder, Starling smirked.

"Now you see why I didn't want a big one? Their nothing but problems!"

Sure enough, the two made it to the parking lot without being spotted, grabbed their skimmers, and flew off.

End chapter

AN: Well, this is another piece I had unfinished on my hard drive. I managed to get a hold of some free time and decided to finish it up. Sorry it took so long girls, but its hard to write something within an already established script and it not mess with anything. Now, what do you girls/guys want to see for the next chapter? I've got a few ideas for back before the war ended that I could flesh out, or I could expand on the current timeline regarding why 'ten years' kept coming up here and in the previous chapter. Or, if you like, I could always bring in little Myna and write a bit with her, its whatever you readers ask for here.

Liked it, hated it, let me know!

Till next time, Ja Ne!


	16. The Sum of All Fears for men

The Sum of All Fears (for men)

Chapter One: Shopping

Ok a long time ago I asked for permission to use OC's for my story 'Total Drama Terra', and quite a few people responded. I was unsure which characters would be the best fit, so I wrote this little bit to get a feel for the various characters I was offered and see which ones I would chose to use. Its older than TDT, but I've gone back and edited it as best I can. I thought you guys and girls might get a kick out of it because its still pretty funny (at least I think it is). Hopefully you'll enjoy it. I apologize that my credits are a bit outdated, but some of the authors/authoress' have changed their names, and I've been unable to find out what their new ones are. So, I just left them all to be the way they were when the characters came out originally.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

Tigger and Aladd are the property of Mysgrl7  
Marina and Madoc belong to Star War's nut  
Scarlett, Corey and Eve are owned by Loveflame  
Rondana was created by MissDedodakes  
Shadow belongs to ShadowQueen25  
Lee Barrs is the property of PinkPanther9.7  
James and Bandit were created by DecepticonPunk643

"Speech"  
"_Thought"_

* * *

Aladd groaned for what must have been the millionth time that day. He was currently in the middle of enemy territory; and there was no cover for him to hide behind. Added to that, they had broken out the biological weapons, insuring that he would die a slow and painful death.

"Sir, are you sure that you wouldn't like to try this cologne? It's imported all the way from Terra Atmosia and sure to help you find the woman of your dreams." The annoying sales rep then sprayed him with the tiny spritzer bottle for the fifth time.

"For the last time NO! I don't want your cologne; I have my own thank you very much!" Aladd hissed between clinched teeth. He reached for his weapon only to remember that Tigger had taken it from him when they entered the mall. As he quietly grumbled to himself he caught sight of Tigger making her way towards him.

"So what do you think?" The petite girl turned around so Aladd could see what she was wearing.

"What's different? It looks like the same thing you always wear." He was surprised to see Tigger's face light up.

"So you are paying attention! I thought you wouldn't notice! Ok wait here, I'll be right back and you tell me what you think of the real clothes!" She called out over her shoulder as she ran back into the changing rooms.

"_That's not what usually happens."_ Looking down at his hand, Aladd saw that Tigger had given him a small chocolate chip cookie before leaving. _"Jackpot!"_ Aladd downed it in a single bite and sat back down on one of the tiny little seats outside the changing room in slightly better spirits then before.

As he sat listening to the horrid elevator music playing in the background he heard a familiar voice.

"Piper, we don't have that much leftover gold. We need to hold on to some of it."

Aladd's face twisted in anger. _"Storm Hawks!"_

Looking towards the changing room, he didn't see Tigger coming back yet, so he figured that he still had some time, so he got up and followed the voice to its source. _"When I find that red headed woodpecker, I'm going to get him back for those pranks he pulled last time!"_

Or at least that was his plan, when he finally found the Storm Hawks Sky Knight, he wasn't sure if he should exact his revenge, help out, or take a picture then fall to the ground laughing.

There, standing in the middle of 'no mans land' was Aerrow. His arms were full of various shopping bags that looked quite heavy. The problem at this moment however was their current location.

Inside every major clothing store, there lies a place. A terrifying place where no man will willingly go, and will only unwillingly enter if they are sure no other male is around, lest they earn the dread title of 'whipped'. Aerrow was on the border, and Aladd knew that he was looking around to make sure no other male's were around to see him.

"Come on Aerrow, they're just clothes, they can't hurt you." Piper's tone was one of annoyance and frustration.

"Piper, we have enough, besides, I can't carry anymore and we have to be back at the Condor in twenty minutes. Just save it for next time." Aerrow pleaded.

"But we never come anywhere near Terra Penny's! I'm tired of shopping for all my cloths at Terra Kwalmart." Piper whined.

"What's wrong with our clothes? It's where we've always shopped in the past." Aerrow now looked genuinely confused.

At first Piper thought he was joking, but when she saw he was serious she remembered. _"That's right, he's a guy."_

Piper groaned and continued towards her destination, but when she saw that Aerrow had not moved an inch she called back. "Well come on! Like you said, we don't have much time, the faster you help me, the faster we can get out of here!" She called out.

Aerrow swallowed a lump in his throat before taking a single step forward. His foot left the tile floor and landed on the carpet. As soon as his foot landed though, he heard it.

"Wwwwshhhhttcchhh!"

Aerrow groaned. Someone had seen him, and he was now officially labeled 'whipped.' He knew that for all time, any male that saw him would know it. It just was. All men knew when one of their brethren had been branded, and he knew it would be their duty to remind him when ever they saw him.

Aladd was supremely pleased with himself. He not only got to see Aerrow's branding, but was actually the one to perform it. Turning to look behind him he saw Tigger glaring at him.

"I came out looking for you, and where do I find you!?"

Tigger's face was red with anger and knew he was in trouble. "It's not what it looks like! I swear! I just came over here because I thought I heard someone I knew that's all!" Aladd stammered out.

"Ok, I'll accept that. I know how bad you are at lying, so it must be the truth." When she looked around she saw something that caught her eye. "Ohh Aladd, come over here! Quick!"

When he saw his girlfriend rush in to 'there' his face turned white. "Um..sorry Tigger, but I think I heard that there is a sale over at…the..uhh…other end of the store, yeah that's it, if we hurry we can make it in time!" Aladd turned to run but was stopped when a small but firm hand grabbed him by the belt and pulled him backwards. "NO! PLEASE! ANYTHING BUT THAT PLEASE!" Aladd cried out.

"Oh don't be such a baby." Tigger ignored her boyfriends begging and continued dragging him caveman style.

As soon as he got up and saw where he was he began to tremble. Sensing movement from behind he spun around and came face to face with Aerrow who had a grin on his face. "Welcome to the club."

"Wwwwshhhhttcchhh!"

Twenty minutes later when the two teens emerged with yet another bag each, they noticed several other males shooting them looks ranging from stifled laughter, (unwhipped) to sympathy (fellow whipped). Both kept their chins up and tried to look as dignified as possible, despite both of their faces being fire engine red.

Meanwhile at the other end of the store a single figure entered. He was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses so no one could see his eyes. The man moved quickly and purposefully, each stride propelling him towards 'no mans land'. In his haste he shoved past Aladd and Aerrow, almost making them drop the bags they were carrying.

"Hey watch it pal!" Aladd barked out. But the man continued as if he hadn't even heard them. He watched as the man disappeared into the horrid place only to come flying back out with several plastic packages in his hands towards the checkout counter. _"Oh I'm going to enjoy this."_ Aladd elbowed Aerrow and nodded towards the man. Aerrow grinned and nodded his head in agreement.

"Uh Piper, I think I left one of the bags back at the changing room, I'll be right back." Aerrow placed the bags in a chair before darting into the electronics department.

Aladd put his own bags down and followed suite claiming that he saw an old friend and wanted to speak to him. The two girls stood confused trying to figure out what had happened.

"Man it feels good to be in a safe zone again." Aerrow said.

"I hear you. The owner of this place is a guy, that's why the electronics are so close to woman's clothing, to provide a save haven for us." Aladd replied. As the two continued they came up to the check out counter.

"Alright, watch a pro." Aladd took one stead forward before Aerrow shoved him towards the man knocking him down.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!" The man shouted.

"Sorry buddy I must have tripped. Here are your….glasses." Aladd was face to face with his uncle, the Dark Ace.

"Look, I don't have time to fight with you today, get out of here and I'll forget we crossed paths, this time." With that he turned back around to the counter.

Aladd felt a hand grab his shoulder and pull him back into the electronics section. When he turned to see who it was, he saw that Aerrow had a huge grin on his face.

"What's your damage man!? He almost killed-" Aerrow coved his mouth with one hand and held up a picture. In it you could see the Dark Ace on the ground, glasses fallen to the side. But clutched in one of his hands were several pair of purple women's unmentionables.

"This thing is going to every Sky Knight and squadron along with every newspaper I can get it to." Aerrow said smugly.

Aladd looked at his fellow Sky Knight, held out his hand and said something he never thought her would to a Storm Hawk.

"It was my pleasure."

When the two came back out they had their arms around each others shoulders and were laughing like there was no tomorrow. Piper and Tigger looked at the two like they had gone nuts before shaking their heads and walking out, both sharing the same thought.

"_Men."_

* * *

While this was happening, at the other side of the department store, another unfortunate male was enduring what many would call cruel and unusual punishment.

Or at the very least unusual.

"But why do I have to wear it?" Madoc cursed the day he had gotten Marina the complete crystal encyclopedia set. Had it not been for those accursed books, he would be in his normal everyday flight suite. Instead he was wearing an expensive dress that looked like something from the middle ages.

"I need you to model for me so I know what it looks like on me." Marina said to her temporary duplicate.

"But why do you have to use me? Wouldn't this stupid thing work on anyone that wore it? Madoc tapped the locked bracelet attached to his right wrist.

"Yes, but everyone else was busy today, you were the only one that wasn't doing anything." Marina replied as she tightened the corset by a few more notches.

"That's because I was on vacation, and ACCKK stop stop stop I can't breathe!" Madoc's voice became squeaking at a rather high pitch once Marina tightened the corset another notch.

"Oh shut up you big baby. As long as you're wearing that bracelet, your body will be exactly the same as mine. I wear one of these things everyday and you don't hear me complain about it. Besides its still three notches down from what I normally wear." She replied.

"It goes tighter?! Who came up with this thing?! An inquisitor!?" Madoc shouted trying to catch his breath.

"Oh come off it, you still have ten more to go." The red head replied tossing a large evening dress at the poor man.

"Uhh how does this thing work?" Madoc asked seeing the overwhelming number of buttons, snaps, buckles, ties, and draw strings.

"Oh for!" Marina gritted her teeth for the tenth time and snatched away the dress and opened it from the back.

* * *

Finn couldn't help but laugh at the poor sap as he watched from what he considered to be a safe distance. He knew it was cruel, but he considered himself lucky. His girlfriend didn't force him into no mans land, nor did she ever ask for his help shopping. Come to think of it, she never asked his opinion or for his help with anything. The only reason they were in the clothing department was it was a short cut to the food court. "Hey Scar." He asked.

"Hmm?" Scarlett looked over to Finn.

"Why don't you ever make me go shopping with you for clothes?" Finn asked with a curious look on his face.

"_Uh oh, better think of something quick."_ "Oh, uh, I just never thought of it. I mean, don't most guys hate shopping?" Scarlett asked trying her best to look innocent.

"Well, yeah, but I was just wondering, I mean, most girls make their guy go shopping with them and make them help pick out what clothes to get, I'm not complaining, I was just curious." Finn replied.

"Oh, well, don't worry about it. I only go shopping every now and then, so it's not that big of a deal. Besides I prefer to do fun things when I'm with you, normally we're always running from some disaster or something. It's nice to just do something safe and fun." She said.

"Like sky diving and bungee jumping?!" Finn asked with a huge smile and thumbs up.

"Eeeh yeah, like those kinds of things." _"Well, they are safer then taking him shopping. I've seen his closet; and I don't even want to think of what he would pick out for me to wear."_ The thought alone made her shudder.

"You cold?" Finn asked with a tone of concern.

"Huh, no I'm fine, just a sudden chill. Probably a little food would help, I haven't eaten for a while you know." Scarlett replied quickly to change the subject.

"Alright then, TO THE FOOD COURT! DA Da Da DA Da Da!" Finn ran half holding half dragging his girlfriend towards their original destination. They moved so fast that he failed to notice who they almost ran over in their haste.

* * *

"Ok, tell me again, why are we here." Kai asked in a somewhat annoyed tone of voice.

"Because there is a huge sale at the shoe store, and I need new boots since all my old ones are wearing out." Starling replied nonchalantly.

"That's not true." Kai began, but was silenced when Starling lifted one foot showing her big toe sticking through the end."

"Ok, but why is she here?" Kai pointed to Rondana, who was walking beside Starling with his thumb.

"She's here for the same reason, and was nice enough to let me-er, us use her valued members card to get an extra discount." Starling answered.

"Ok…but then why is she here?" This time he pointed at Shadow who was clinging to his arm.

"She is here because I don't stay aboard to Condor that often, and when I do my name is automatically put up for 'Shadow duty'." Seeing the confused look on his face she elaborated. "I have to keep her out of trouble, and the only way to do that is to keep her in my line of sight at all times." She clarified.

"Ok…just one more question. Why am _I_ here?" Kai was doing his best to keep his voice level, but if you listened closely you could actually hear his eyebrow twitching.

"You are here because we need someone to carry all our bags, and aside from Junko, you're the only person we know that can carry that much weight." Starling replied like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"He can lift as much as Junko?" Shadow asked in aw. Kai knew that tone; it was a combination of sneaky, sly, and mischievous. She was up to something, he didn't know what, but he could already hear the hamster wheel spinning and the gears grinding in her head.

"_I have trained my apprentice well."_ Kai thought with a touch of pride as he remembered her first solo prank mission.

"No, I can't lift as much as a Wallop, but I can carry about twice what would be considered normal. Speaking of Wallops, where is Junko? Why don't you have him doing this?" Kai asked trying to get back to the matter at hand (and a way out).

"Junko is getting supplies we need to repair the Condor. We save money by having him carry it to the ship, that way we don't have to waste fuel on the skimmers, or money on renting a flatbed." Shadow answered as she leaned on Kai slightly more than one would expect from a simple 'friend'. She normally considered Kai to be family, but after making a small wager with Starling the night before, she decided to take out all of the stops and see if she could win.

"Ok, I can understand that, but still, why am I here? You don't seriously expect me to carry all your junk around do you?" As soon as the words came out of his mouth he knew he would regret it.

Starling stopped in her tracks. Since she was in front of him, he had no idea how much trouble he was in yet. After what seemed to be an eternity, but in reality was three seconds she turned to face him.

"That's ok, if you don't want to, you don't have to carry our stuff." Her tone was neutral, and her face was calm.

"_Snap, here it comes."_ Kai thought to himself.

"I just thought you'd like to spend a little time with me, that's all." Her face looked sad suddenly.

"_Come on Kai! Be a man! You can resist it! It can't still work on you! It's been fourteen years; there is no way that old trick can still work!"_ Kai felt a small pain in his chest as he watched.

"It's not all that important, I mean, we haven't seen each other in months, but I can understand. You must have important things to do." Her face continued to fall through various shades of sadness and depression.

"_Fight it, fight it, fight it, fight it!"_ Kai swallowed the lump in his throat, but felt the tiny twinge of pain and guilt increase.

"After all, it must be something very important if it means more to you then your closest and dearest friend, your friend that's known you since you were five. The very same friend that held you close so you could sleep through your nightmares and." She was going to continue, but Kai cut her off.

"OK OK OK OK OK! Just…stop that, please." Kai hung his head in defeat.

Shadow and Rondana had matching looks of astonishment on their faces, while Starling sproted a smug grin. _"Works every time."_ She thought to herself.

"How did you do that?" Shadow asked. Her voice a mixture of aw and disbelief. She remembered Tigger saying something about how easy it was for Starling to manipulate her reclusive friend, but she had no idea it was of such magnitude.

"Sorry, but you'll have to figure out on your own. Besides, it's different for each of them." She said gesturing towards Kai with her thumb. "So it wouldn't work for you even if I explained it." Starling then dragged a groaning Kai into the shoe department.

Now, many women assume that when a guy groans from being dragged into a store, it's out of annoyance.

What they don't know, is that it is actually a distress call in their primal native tongue. They are calling out to any male in the vicinity to help them out. This is why 'old buddies' or 'classmates' seem to show up out of nowhere sometimes. In reality, the two more than likely have never even met each other, but are just trying to help their fellow male.

In Kai's case, his call fell on deaf ears.

* * *

As soon as they entered however Kai's demeanor brightened slightly. Looking around he saw several other guys that had been dragged into hauling piles of shoes that very likely would never even be worn or even see the light of day. Lined up along the far wall of the store were four familiar faces. Lee Barrs, James Scott, Corey, and last but not least, Snipe.

It wasn't unusual to see Cyclonians on Terra Penny's. After all it had remained neutral throughout the war, and neither side was willing to lose access to it, so they left it alone.

Kai walked over and leaned against the wall, sharing the same dull expression as the other guys.

"Hum ehh…?" (Translation: So you too?) Snipe grunted looking down at Kai.

Looking up at the large man, Kai responded. "Eh maa." (Translation: Guess so.) Kai then looked over to Lee. "Huh?" (Translation: Man, I never would have expected to see you here, what happened?")

Lee rolled his eyes before replying. "Ptth." (Translation: Like I would ever actually get dragged here. I'm just waiting for an order. Luthor and Jonny's girls ordered something awhile back and it just got in. They made me pick it up for them.)

Kai grinned for a moment. "Huha." (Translation: So another words, they took all your sake and helium right.) It wasn't a question as much as it was a joking statement. Lee's only response was a single nod.

Corey then spoke up. "Ehh? Nahh." (Translation: What about you? I didn't even think you had a girlfriend.)

Kai's only response was a snort. (Translation: I don't)

That's when James stepped in. "Neah." (Translation: Back off Corey, we're all stuck in this together.)

Eve then came out with a pair of boots clutched in her hands close to her chest. "They had the new style in. They're not only guarantied to keep out any possible bacterial infection from your feet, but they also spray bleach from there soles with each step. So they kill the bacteria while keeping them off your feet." Her tone and face reminded Kai of the old geezers on the Sky Council. Dull, boring, and lacking any emotion.

Corey turned to the other four guys before leaving and gave a single grunt. (Translation: Looks like my term is up, I hope to see you guys again. Maybe we could go to the game next week, I got tickets.)

"Number five thousand six hundred and forty seven. Your order is up." The shrill navel voice of the floor manager called over the loud speaker.

Lee headed to the exit, and placed the myriads of bags onto his staff before hefting it to his shoulder. Without even looking back he walked out of the shoe store. (Translation: So long suckers. Enjoy your stay for the next hundred years.)

"Snipe! Get up here now!" A familiar voice called out.

Snipe looked down at the two remaining and his shoulders sagged before marching to the front of the store. (Translation: What did I ever do to deserve this?)

Some time passed and soon Kai and James had run out of things to talk about, Kai suggested that he could leave a few illusions in place while they went to get something to eat, but James declined stating that Bandit would be able to tell the difference.

An hour later Bandit came from the back of the store carrying only a single bag.

"That's all your bought? I though for sure you would have gotten more than just one pair." James voice betrayed his relief.

At this the girl laughed. "Of course I bought more than just one pair silly. These are the shoes I brought with me silly. I'm wearing one of the new pair. I left the rest on the dolly for you to push." With that she went to the front and pay for her new shoes.

"What does she mean by dolly?" James asked. Looking down the isle she had come from however, was a mistake.

Kai heard something that sounded almost like an injured rabbit, or a mouse that had been stepped on. Turning to find its source, he saw James on his knees on the verge of crying. Looking past the man he soon saw the reason.

Setting at the end of the isle laid a dolly that was almost larger than most skimmers. Stacked up on top of it was several hundred pair of, from what Kai could tell, black leather boots of varying lengths and sizes.

"But…but…but…how….why…I…she…she said…only..a..few…." James was mumbling incoherently, apparently lost in a maze of confusion and despair.

"_That's what one woman is capable of?! I'm here with three!"_ Kai ran to the back of the store, desperate to prevent himself from sharing a similar fate. Looking around he quickly found his three tortu…er..friends.

"Oh Kai there you are. Tell me, what do you think?" Turning to his side, Kai saw Shadow wearing a pair of…interesting boots to say in the least. She had one leg raised up on a small stool and was smiling oddly at him, almost the same way Piper did at Aerrow.

"Why do they go above the knee? Wouldn't that make them hard to run in?" Kai asked genuinely confused.

He was surprised to see Shadow and Rondana sharing matching faces of shock and disbelief. But the silence was soon broken by a familiar laugh.

"I told you so." Starling continued to snicker as she put up one pair of boots and pulled out a second darker pair.

"How…can…but..thats..thats…not..thats not possible! He's male!" Shadow sputtered.

"Starling, did he ever get out back on Mesa at all?" Rondana asked, still dumbfounded as to how her friend could be so completely clueless.

"Not really. He spent most of his time training." Stopping for a moment, she tapped her chin in thought. "Or playing videogames." She quickly added.

"You forget that I also spent quite a bit of time cleaning the HQ, getting supplies, and cooking." Kai interjected.

"How did you get him to cook?" Shadow asked as she pulled off the boots.

"He cleans?" Rondana asked in a stunned tone of voice.

"It was more or less a necessity." Kai said with a smug grin.

"Why? I mean, I didn't know the other Interceptors, but Starlings a good cook." Shadow watched as Kai fell to the floor laughing.

"Star!? A cook!? You have to be kidding! She turned canned soup into napalm, she's the only person that I have even seen make a skydog into weapons grade uranium! No, you must be confusing her with someone else…That or she's disguising takeout as her cooking again." Kai brushed a tear from his eye as he pulled himself together.

"Actually, I'm not that bad…anymore." Starling now had an equally smug grin. "Unlike some people, I am capable of changing certain aspects of myself. Single Syllable."

Kai cringed at the remark. "Cant you just go back to using my old nickname?" Kai whined.

"Old nickname? What did it use to be?" Rondana asked as she found a particularly nice (and expensive) pair of loafers.

"It used to be One Syllable, but I changed it to Single Syllable after he turned seventeen." Starling replied as she grabbed several matching pair of boots from the shelf and tossed them into a nearby cart.

"What's the difference?" Shadow asked.

"One Syllable is referring to his name; Single Syllable is referring to his status." Starling answered curtly.

"Oh I get it!" Shadow giggled once she got the joke.

"Well, excuse me for focusing on more important matters. Unless you forgot, we're at war, and we can't beat the enemy into submission by taking them out on dates…unless we can somehow get Master Cyclonis to actually agree to go out with Aladd." Kai said in a slightly miffed tone, but still managing a small smile in the end.

"Not a bad idea, but I doubt Tigger would willingly go along with it." Rondana said as she came out of her shock induced trance.

"Aww don't be upset. I was only trying to have some fun." Starling said ruffling Kai's hair as she passed by him.

Kai took a second to push his hair back behind his ears before hearing his name called out again.

"Hey Kai! How about _these_?" Came Shadows voice from behind him.

Turning, Kai saw she was now wearing an even longer pair of boots that were almost four inches above her knees, combined with the stiletto heels, they gave a rather interesting look to the young girl.

"_Ok, I might not get out much, but judging by the way they reacted to my first answer, and how she has an even bigger grin on her face this time, I'll bet she's up to something. Better bluff my way out." _Kai gave them the once over from where he was standing before answering. "Eh not bad, but if I let you buy those, Aerrow would probably kill me."

"He's bluffing." Starling called out.

"How can you tell? He's not even facing you." Rondana asked as she added several pair of various footwear to the cart.

"He started his sentence with Eh. He picked that up from Billy Rex. He does that every time he's lying or doesn't really know what to say." Starling answered before adding several more pair of boots.

"Would you stop that? It's like your trying to make me look bad, or you're trying to set me up or something." Kai said as he glared at his long time friend.

He noticed her lack of reply.

"Oh come on. I can take care of myself. I'm not five anymore." Kai rolled his eyes when he saw Starling trying to act innocent. "Tell you what; you girls finish up with this…stuff." Kai said pointing at the growing pile of shoes. "I'll pay for lunch."

"Wow, lunch at a mall food court." Rondana replied in an almost board tone.

"Starling, he's hopeless." Shadow added before tossing the boots from earlier into the cart.

"Well, believe it or not, he has made progress." Starling said as she placed a pair of sandals on top of the now extremely large pile of shoes. "Alright Kai, use that muscle and push the cart for us." She said pointed to the overflowing cart.

"You can't be serious." After a few seconds passed, a tumbleweed blew by.

Kai then spoke once again. "You…are…serious…."

"Dang."

Walking to the back of the cart Kai had to use every ounce of strength he had to push the monstrous cart. _"I knew I should have stayed in bed today. But NOOOOOO I had to go and be mister nice guy. At least I can get in some good training today. It's been awhile since I did any bench pressing."_ Kai thought with a grin as he ignored the comments from the three girls.

* * *

End Chapter.

AN: Ok, I don't even know where this came from. I took the most stereotypical thing I could think of, and this was the result. Shopping. The single most feared enemy to Mankind. I might come up with more bits like this in the future, but only if the OC owners don't mind.

Till next time! Ja Ne!


	17. Kai’s Greatest Heist!

Broken Wing

Chapter 16 Kai's Greatest Heist!

Or

*Because it had to be done eventually, a musical!*

AN: Ok, I know that I've been away for a while, and I hope that I still have a reader or two left in this section, but I needed a break, it's been really busy, I got hit with writers block AND I've had a recent…I guess you could call it 'evolution'. I've been doing a lot of work with Digimon as of late, but I've also been doing quite a bit of reading. Unlike most people who learn by actually doing something, I learn by 'seeing'. Hopefully this will show in my work here in the Storm Hawks section, and there will be a noticeable difference in my work from here on out. I'm still working on WOC, so don't worry about that. For now though, sit back and enjoy the show.

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, also I don't own 'When You're Evil' that song is the property of 'Voltaire',however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

Sitting in the rafters above the now in gathered Sky Council, Kai's lips twisted into a smirk. He had hoped to sneak in, get what he came for, and get out without being seen or causing a stir. But this was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.

_Gavel bangs_

"This Council is now in session. Remember, what is said within this chamber is not to be repeated for any purpose. We cannot afford the populace to become suspicious of our actions, or lose their trust and confidence in us."

"Just get to the point, why are we meeting at this ungodly hour? We're going to be here tomorrow anyway, can't this wait until then?" One of the older and much 'grouchier' members of the Council asked with an annoyed tone.

"I am afraid not, this is an important matter that requires immediate action. One of our scouts has reported that Kai has been spotted enroot to this very terra."

Several groans and annoyed grunts were heard.

"The Rex Guardian Harrier was the one to spot him, which is why he and his squadron are here now," the lead 'grouch' said with a small grin as he held one hand out to his favored pet.

Kai winched, if the entire squadron was here, there was sure to be trouble. He had no desire to have a run in with Pellegri this late at night. Keeping as still as he could, Kai counted up how many people were present, and was not surprised to see that it was the entire Sky Council.

"_Guess I shouldn't have stopped to refuel after all. Still, it's just the Guardians,"_ Kai thought as he saw only Harrier was actually in the room at the moment. He knew that the others were either on patrol in the building, or they were fighting to stay awake outside.

A sudden movement caught Kai's attention. One of the Council members was looking in his direction, and he could have sworn that the guy actually was grinning.

"Yes? The Council recognizes that Senior Councilman Nygrya has the floor."

Kai's eyes narrowed.

"Sorry, sorry, it's nothing important; I just need to excuse myself for a moment. Please continue, I shouldn't be long," the man said as he shuffled his way out of the Council chambers. Just before he closed the door, Kai could have sworn that the man flashed him a smirk.

Shaking his head, Kai turned his attention back to the meeting below.

"Now, as I said, Kai has been sighting, and from his flight heading, we believe that he will be coming here. At best he can make it here by noon tomorrow, so we have until then to set a trap to capture him."

Kai shook his head and allowed his smirk to grow even larger. _"Heh, they still don't know what The Beast can do huh? Good, as long as they think she's that slow it gives me another advantage,"_ Kai thought as he listened to the various ideas getting tossed around by the old men and idiot bellow.

"Gentlemen, we must act quickly and accordingly," Harrier said slamming his fist down on the podium. "The boy is nothing but trouble, and will one day be the destruction of Free Atmos. He's a loose cannon that must be contained. Add this to our latest reports that he has been sighted in terra Cyclonia, we must assume that he has joined Master Cyclonis's forces of evil."

"_Evil huh? They want evil, I'll give them evil,"_ Kai thought feeling an adrenalin rush coming on. It had been a very, very long week, and Kai had had just about enough of the cosmic annoyance known as the Sky Council. He recognized the need for their presence, but still wished that they would cut him _some_ slack. He knew they received reports of his raids on Cyclonia, but ignored them. Whether this was out of fear, or because they were just plain stubborn he didn't know.

Now however, he felt like indulging himself a bit, and having some fun with the rubes bellow.

Sitting up from his hiding spot leaning against the central rafter, Kai stretched.

"_It's show time."_

Being that he _knew_ this mission would still be easy, but now with the added bonus of rubbing something into both the Council and Harrier's face, Kai felt more than just a little smug, and decided to have some long overdue fun.

In the back of his mind, he could hear the slow whine of an old violin, and decided to just roll with it.

"Ladies and Gentleman!" Kai bellowed, making sure that every eye in the Council chamber was now on him as he flourished out his arms.

Seeing their stunned faces, Kai continued.

"Though I use the term loosely," seeing Harrier, he added. "Very, _very_ loosely."

"I have decided to actually be a good sport and give you a chance to catch me for once. It gets terribly boring just sneaking past your security systems and a few guards. Honestly, do you even _try_ anymore?"

"It's him!"

"How did he get in here?!"

"What is he doing here?!"

Doing a back flip, Kai landed in the middle of the room and brought out his staff.

"When the Devil is too busy," Kai chorused, grinning as he ducked under Harrier's sword.

Bringing around his staff, Kai hit the Sky Knight in the stomach with the flat end, knocking the wind out of him before jumping onto a nearby table to dodge one of the Councilmen's attempts at tackling him.

"And Death's a bit too much," he taunted Harrier as the older man clutched his stomach.

"They call on me by name you see," Kai sang as the Council chamber broke into chaos. Harrier got back up and charged him, nearly blowing steam out of his nostrils.

"HALT! YOU ARE UNDER ASSREST!" Harrier shouted as he once again tried (emphasis on tried) to charge the teen.

Knowing that he was getting to them, Kai decided to keep pushing the larger mans buttons.

"For my special touch." Just as he spoke the line, Harrier threw a punch at Kai's face, which he ducked and countered by bending the Sky Knight's arm behind his back and delivering three quick strikes to a nerve cluster in the man's shoulder, rendering his right arm numb and useless for the next few hours.

Seeing that one of the smarter old men had locked the doors, Kai jumped from the table he was standing on to another and another, jumping just above their heads and grabbing hands.

"To the Gentleman I'm Miss-Fortune, To the Ladies I'm Sir-Prize!" Kai sang with a grin as he remembered the bounty on his head.

The old men were throwing books, scrolls, inkwells, anything they could get their hands on, all the while calling him every name in the book and then some.

Kai easily deflected the 'projectiles' or knocked them away with his staff, but did nothing to hide his shark sized grin.

"But call me by any name, Any way it's all the same," Kai chorused, trying and failing to suppress the laugher building in the back of his throat as the old men and women of the Council threw out some more 'colorful' names at him.

Harrier was not amused. Dropping his sword, the man drew his crystal lance and brought it to life.

The moment he saw the large blade of golden crystal light crackle to life, Kai jumped into the middle of the floor and kicked the two tables at his sides away. Flashing a grin and giving the 'come hither' motion, Kai waited for Harrier's predictable charge.

"THAT WAS THE LAST TIME YOU SHALL TAUNT ME YOU PEST!" Harrier shouted as he charged with his lance, fully intending on pinning Kai to the wall behind him.

Shaking his head and clicking his tongue, Kai sidestepped the charge and continued his mocking song.

"I'm the fly in your soup."

Harrier swung his crystal lance around and tried to hit Kai with a reversed slash.

Kai responded by dropping down and spinning on his right heel. The moment he rose back up, he slammed the end of his staff down on Harrier's boot, making the man cry out as he hopped on one foot.

"I'm the pebble in your shoe," the teen cried out with a chuckle before thrusting his staff like a Q-stick and hitting Harrier between the shoulder blades, knocking him off balance.

"I'm the pea beneath your bed," Kai cheered as he nailed Harrier over the head with his staff, and then flipped it like a horizontal light switch to hit one of the Council members that had tried to sneak up on him.

"I'm a bump on every head," he jested before ducking Harrier's diagonal slash and countering by kicking out with one leg to trip the Guardian and knock him flat on his backside. "I'm the peel on which you slip!" Kai shouted, laughing the entire time.

Seeing that several of the Council members had positioned themselves between him and the exit, Kai charged as he swung his staff from side to side, knocking the old men away as he ran.

"I'm the pin in every hip," Kai shouted as he kicked the massive wooden doors open.

Turning to face the source of his pain and annoyance, he decided to go for broke and made several illusion copies of himself. Before they split up and broke into different directions, the five Kai's grinned at the Council as the pulled themselves together and figured out that he was now outside the room.

"I'm the thorn in your side, makes you wiggle and writhe," they teased before running in different directions.

One of the Rex Guardians had reached just in time to tackle the last of them as it sprinted away, but was shocked when he passed right through the illusion and slammed into the wall at full force.

"And it's so easy when you're evil!" The illusion caroled before vanishing into nothingness.

Another one of the Rex Guardians, the sharpshooter Kai knew to go by the name of Weaver, tried to stop him with several crystal arrows.

"Why are you here traitor?!" He demanded.

Ducking and shifting his stance, Kai avoided the arrows all the while continuing his 'merry little tune'.

"This is the life you see," Kai paused and turned sideways to avoid two arrows that had been fired at the same time.

"The Devil tips his hat to me," once again pausing his song, Kai ducked then back flipped to dodge Weaver's crystal bow. Even without arrows the thing was dangerous. It _was_ made out of metal after all.

"Why are you doing this?! Why did you betray us? What did Cyclonis promise you? Money? Power? What?"

Scowling, Kai charged the man with a full dread charge, but made note to continue the now ironically fitting song.

"I do it all because I'm evil!"

Bring his staff in front of him, Kai slammed the head into the ground and pole-vaulted over Weaver only to be halted by a gathering of Council members.

"And I do it all for free! Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need!" Kai 'sang' before vanishing into thin air.

"It was another illusion!"

"Blast, where is the real one?!"

Looking over his shoulder, Kai felt his face pale slightly when he saw the Guardians Weapon master closing in on him from behind. The man wasn't codenamed 'Albatross' for nothing. Besides, the man had been a good friend to him growing up, heck, he had been on of his favorite teachers.

Still, business was business.

"Kai! Stop! What are you doing here! You know the Councils after your head, why would you do something as stupid as showing up here of all places?"

Blocking the larger mans crystal lance with his staff, Kai felt himself being pushed down under the giants might. Still, even in this dire situation, Kai continued his tune.

"While there's children to make sad," eyeing the key on the mans belt, Kai dipped his right arm down and let go as the energy lance slid downward. Using the momentary distraction to its fullest, Kai pivoted and got behind the man before he could react.

Reaching for the key, Kai continued.

"While there's candy to be had."

Albatross' eyes widened when he felt the key on his belt get plucked by the teen in one deft motion.

"While there's pockets left to pick," Kai smirked before bringing the tail end of his staff around and hitting the larger man in the back of the legs, bringing him down.

Shaking his head, Kai took off.

"There he is! He's heading up the stairs! He's going for the archives! Stop him!"

Kai snapped his head up when he saw two guards charging him with their crystal swords ignited from the flight of stairs above him.

Clicking his tongue, Kai sidestepped the two guards and chuckled as the tumbled down the stairs and into the crowed following him.

"While theirs grannies left to trip down the stairs," he sang before running up to the next flight, only to stop when a very large and very angry looking Wallop landed between him and the door from several flights up.

To Kai's surprise, the Wallop grinned and actually continued the teasing little song, only now he was using it to mock Kai.

"I'll be there, I'll be waiting round the corner," he challenged.

Looking over his shoulder, Kai saw that the mass of Council members had used the time to form a human 'wall' behind him, effectively trapping him.

"Now, to get some answers, WHY are you here?" Harrier seethed as he stepped forward.

Looking up at the Wallop, Kai smirked.

"It's a game, I'm glade I'm in it," Kai mocked, pushing Harrier just enough over the edge so he would try to charge tackle him.

Only to pass through him and into the Wallop.

"Cause there's one born every minute!" Kai cried out before vanishing.

"This one was a decoy!"

"Where's the real one?!"

Slamming his fist on the ground, Harrier pushed himself up, and growled.

"WHERE THE DEVIL ARE YOU YOU COWARD! SHOW YOURSELF!" Harrier's voice echoed throughout the massive stone construct.

One of the younger Council members, a new replacement swallowed the lump in his throat. In all his years, he had never seen anything like this before.

"That boy…what is he?" The man whispered to himself shaking his head.

Despite the fact that he was only speaking to himself, a cold whisper continued the chant from above.

"I'm the fear that keeps you awake."

"He's here! Kai's still in the area! Find him now!" The 'head grouch' bellowed.

"I'm the shadows on the wall," the whisper taunted before going silent.

"There he is!"

"No! He's over there!"

"No he's not! He's right there!"

Each and every person present was pointing in a different direction at a different moving shadow.

"He can't be everywhere at once! He's just on stupid little kid!"

Suddenly, the shadows 'leapt' from the walls and ceiling, converging into a single black mass.

"I'm the monster they become!"

"Stop him!"

The Wallop brought down his massive fist to crush the teen before him. But the moment before he could strike, the figure separated into a million different shadows that jumped in every direction.

"Stop him!"

"Which one?!"

"All of them! One has to be the real one!"

"But which one?" The Wallop asked, scratching his head as everyone watched the mass of Kai's jumping from wall to wall.

Feeling something feather light touch his shoulder, the Wallop turned to see if it was Harrier, but was surprised to see nothing.

"I'm the nightmare in your skull," he heard whispered into his ear before feeling a quick series of strikes to his back, and seeing the world go black.

Hearing a loud thud, everyone looked back to see the Wallop in an unconscious heap before them.

Now, they were scared.

"We need to get out of here! He's going to kill us all!"

"Shut up you crybaby! Kai hasn't killed anyone; he's just knocking them out. He's trying to get to something…but what I'm not sure," Harrier said with a frown.

"What IS he? No human can do things like that!"

"Their just tricks, he can't actually teleport. I've fought the boy before, he can make illusions and that's it, nothing more," Harrier asserted before feeling something cold press against his neck.

"I'm the dagger in your back," he heard whispered into his ear before feeling the world spin under his feet.

"What the heck!" There wasn't anyone there! Harrier! Harrier!"

"We cant fight something like this! What is there to be had staying here any longer!?" One of the more sensible Council members pleaded."

A cold mirthless chuckle filled the air, followed by more of the mocking song.

"An extra turn on the rack!"

More than just one of those assembled gulped, and the knocking of knees could be heard for several miles.

"I'm the quivering of your heart."

Hearing a sudden 'click' everyone jumped.

"A stabbing pain, a sudden start."

_Click_

Again everyone jumped, trying to figure out what the tiny clicking sound was. Not one of them had the slightest clue that it had been Kai slipping through the door, but casting an illusion to make it look as through it had remained closed the entire time.

The soft clicking of boots echoed throughout the otherwise empty archives.

Calmly, Kai strode his way to the very back, towards his destination. He knew the fools would be huddled around the door for well over an hour before someone got the bright idea to check on the door, so he was in no hurry.

"And it's so easy when you're evil," Kai sang softly, though his tone was much more bitter than it had been before, completely lacking the mocking tone from moments ago..

"This…is…the life…you…see," coming to a stop, he sighed and turned to look up at the top of a nearby bookcase.

Sun kissed blond hair and nearly crystal clear blue eyes, a face that Kai had both called and thought beautiful under any circumstance was now marred with a confused and pained frown.

"Kai…"

Seeing Pellegri, Kai scowled.

"The Devil tips his hat to me…"

"Kai…this…this isn't you…why are you here? Why did you break into the archives?"

"I…do it all because I'm…evil," Kai muttered as he drew his staff ready.

"Kai, this isn't a joke! What did Cyclonis pay you? What does she have over you? Is it money? Is it Starling? What?" The blond all but begged as she pulled her crystal blade free and activated it.

"And I do it…all for free…"

Pellegri charged Kai who tried to hit her with a diagonal swing.

Quickly dropping to her knees to evade the attack, she pivoted on her right arm and tried to knock Kai down with a sweep kick.

"Please! Just tell me what it is! I'm your friend Kai! Don't you remember me?" She pleaded.

If anything, Kai's scowl deepened.

"Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need!" He chanted as he stepped back to avoid the kick.

"Is it money you want Kai? Is that it? Has hanging around the Murks really gotten to you that badly!?" She demanded as she launched herself at Kai with her weapon swinging at a him with a lightning fast flurry of strikes.

"And I do it all for free," Kai 'reminded' her as he continued to back away from her, clearly on the defensive.

"Then what do you want! What will it take for you to stop running?!"

"Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need," Kai chanted before ducking around her and making a charge for the back of the archives.

"What did she do to you?! What made you turn on your friends like they were nothing to you!?" She demanded, quickly closing the distance between them.

"And I do it all for free."

"Stop saying that! Do we really mean that little to you! Is that what you really think about me!?"

"Your tears are all the pay…I'll ever need…"

With a feral scream, Pellegri threw herself into the air and tackled Kai to the ground. Before he could even react, she quickly shifted herself and rolled Kai onto his back, straddled his stomach and pinned his arms above his head.

"WHY! Why are you doing this?! Why are you putting your friends though all this! TELL ME!"

Seeing the girl who was once his second closest friend panting in grief, with tears spilling over her eyes, Kai felt something in the back of his mind break.

"It gets…so lonely…being evil…"

Seeing her puzzled face, Kai forced back his emotions to the best of his abilities before continuing what he knew was going to be a very cruel melody.

"What I'd do to see a smile…"

Confusion replaced with hope, Kai again felt the twinge in the back of his mind.

"Even for…a little while…"

Swallowing, Pellegri slowly lowered her face to Kai's.

"And…no one loves you…when you're…evil…"

The moment her face was less than an inch from his own, Kai sprung.

"I'm lying through my teeth!"

Head butting her as hard as he could, Kai took advantage of her momentarily being stunned to reverse their positions.

"Your tears are all the company I'll ever need," he whispered before delivering two quick strikes to her neck, and watched her eyes roll up into the back of her head.

Pulling himself up, Kai shook his head sadly.

"Should have just let me be…"

Walking to the back of the archives, Kai pulled out the key he had 'borrowed' from Albatross and twirled it on his finger.

"Well, lets get this over with," he muttered as he unlocked the large metal door before him.

Several hours later, Pellegri woke with a start. Her first instinct was to find Kai, but that was brought to an immediate halt by the terra size headache that made itself known when she sat up.

"Agh, man that smarts…Kai!"

Looking around and trying to get her bearings straight, she was surprised to find herself on one of the small cushioned couches of the archives, not lying on the floor where she remembered being knocked out.

"Where…what happened?"

"Where is he?!"

Snapping her head up, Pellegri heard what sounded like a small army approaching.

"Pellegri! Where is he! Did you catch him?" One of the Council members asked anxiously.

"No…sir…I'm sorry, but…he got away."

"Blast him! This is the second time in three months!"

Not caring about their petty arguments, Pellegri slowly rose from her seat, and after taking a moment to catch her balance made her way to the exit.

"Pellegri?"

"Hmm?"

Looking behind her, the young blond saw Harrier with a pensive look on his face.

"Yes Captain?"

"You…didn't…you didn't by any chance _let_ Kai get away did you? You know that would be grounds for treason." He asked sternly.

"What? No, why would even think that?"

Eyeing her closely, the man frowned when he caught sight of the tiny marks of dried blood on her nose.

"He head butted you I see. Must have caught you off guard. Never mind then. Carry on," he said before going back to the Council members and helping to sort out what had happened.

"_What was he talking about? I mean, yeah, we might have been…"_ Shaking her head, Pellegri chalked it up to Harrier's usual paranoia and left it at that.

Many miles away, Kai sighed as he continued to push his skimmer to its limits. He wasn't proud of what he had done, but it was a necessary evil. After the last intelligence report he had intercepted came through, he would jump into the wastelands themselves before letting another scare like that happen.

"_If the Raptors got that close to stealing those shards, I don't even want to think about what Lark would do if she was really serious about getting them."_

Checking the small vial tied to his neck with a length of twine, Kai frowned.

"I might not be able to keep them from getting most of it…but at least I can make sure they don't get their hands on _all_ of it."

Fixing his eyes on the tiny sliver of crystal, Kai shuddered as the thought of what might happen passed across his mind.

"I just hope Pellegri can forgive me when this is all over…"

End chapter.

AN: This was a little something I had in the back of my mind for awhile, but just never got around to writing it out. I'll be working on Winds of Change again soon, but I've been a bit busy with my Digimon stories lately. As I said, I'm not abandoning them, I just work based on mood, and I really haven't been in a Storm Hawks mood lately. The bit at the end, if anyone's interested in knowing, was Kai looking out for Pellegri. Since the squadrons are Free Atmos's air force, they operate under military law. Under that, treason is punishable by execution, and the only trial you'd get is by a military tribunal. So basically, you're dead. Kai didn't want to endanger Pellegri, so he was a bit rougher with her than the others so it would be visible that they fought.

This chapter itself is actually linked to my current work (Winds of Change) as well as Arashi21's fic (Fighting Wings) but you wont see how till later. Oh, and I'm working on the next chapter now, and yes, it is the long awaited chapter with Myna. I figured that its time I write her out a bit, especially since everyone wants to see her.

Till next time, Ja Ne!


	18. Why? Why Not?

Broken Wing

Chapter 18:Why? Why Not?

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Hello and welcome to the newest chapter of Broken Wing. This chapter was one of the more difficult ones to write. This is due to it being both unknown and forbidden territory for guys. Girl Talk (_Shudders)_ As far as when this story takes place in the timeline of things, it's before the end of the Cyclonian War and Winds of Change, basically its REALLY early in the timeline. I wrote this up some time ago and just found it on my hard drive. I haven't had time to write much, but I AM working on the next chapter of Winds of Change, consider this an apology for taking so long. I hope you enjoy it, and that it is not too bad. As always please read and review, flames will be used to cook Merb Cabbage.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, the Shadow crystal and this story.

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"Speech"

"_Thought"_

_Sound_

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Starling leaned back into the old, yet surprisingly comfortable couch the Storm Hawks now kept on the Condors Bridge. She was deep in thought so she didn't notice that she had company.

Or that she had had company for well over the last hour.

"Copper for your thoughts?" A familiar voice asked.

To her credit Starling didn't jump, but the slightly higher pitch of her voice proved that she had been caught unaware.

"Oh Piper, I didn't see you there. I'm sorry, but what was it you asked?"

Piper gave a small smile as she sat down beside the woman who she no longer saw as just a role model, but as a member of her ever growing extended family.

"Oh come on, I heard you when you got back last night. I take it the date didn't go all to well huh?" When Piper saw the look on Starlings face she couldn't help but laugh.

"You have no idea." Starling groaned as she leaned back and sighed. "I swear it's like they're getting worse or something. I spent most of last night going through all my old logbooks and journals checking to make sure I hadn't destroyed a shrine to some heathen God, or desecrated some ancient burial ground or something." Starling muttered in an exasperated tone.

"It couldn't have been that bad." When Piper saw the glare Starling sent her way she cringed and looked away. "Ok so maybe it could." Allowing a few seconds to pass the younger girls normal curious self returned in full force. "Wanna tell me what happened?" Piper asked as she scooted away onto the closest cushion and leaned forward. "Come on! I want details!"

Starling couldn't help but chuckle at Pipers antics. She had learned quite some time ago that the crew acted young not because they were immature or undisciplined, well aside from Finn , but rather it was to help each other get through each day, it was to help keep them from descending into their own personal worlds of darkness. She was thankful that they extended this to her whenever she was around, since extended bouts of solitude would sometimes pull her back into her own.

So, in light of their kindness, she decided to humor the younger girl and recount her latest miserable excuse of a date.

"Well, for starters, he greeted me by the wrong name."

Piper couldn't help but wince slightly. "Ouch."

"That was the high point of the entire…event." Starling gave a dry laugh before continuing. "He tried to give me a lift on his skimmer, but it was out of fuel, so we had to use mine."

Piper smiled and covered her eyes as she shook her head.

"Then when we reached the restaurant he had made reservations at, it not only turned out to be the wrong restaurant, but the wrong Terra." Starling was about to finish when she was interrupted by her companions laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! I'm sorry, it's just, you have to admit that is pretty bad." Piper spoke between her fit of laughs but stopped when she saw the serious look on Starling's face.

"Did I saw I was finished?" Starling rose one of her eyebrows.

Piper settled back down and got comfortable. She looked like a kid listening to one of her grandparents tell a story about the old days again.

"In the end we decided to go to a Sky Burger fly through. Not the best of meals, but I've had worse. That's when he dropped the bombshell." When Starling was sure that she had Pipers undivided attention she grinned. "He left his wallet back at home, so I ended up paying for the meal."

Piper fell into a fit of giggles and was soon having difficulty time breathing.

"Of course, the ending was befitting of the mess. When I dropped him off his mother was waiting for us on the front porch armed with a crossbow. She started firing at me and calling out at me for trying to take away her dear sweet child." Starling finished with a false sweet tone.

At this point Piper's chest was hurting from sheer laughter. After a minute or so passed and she wiped the tears from her eyes she asked one question.

"How old was he, I mean was he like nineteen or something?" Piper asked in all seriousness.

"Actually, believe it or not, he was a year older then me." Starling groaned as she leaned back into the old couch listening to Piper laugh herself silly.

"Oh come off it, you've laughed long enough. Besides it's not like you have a great track record yourself, or need I remind you about the little excursions you've been on with your fearless leader? Like your first date to terra Neon? Or how about the ski trip to terra Nord? Oh and lets not forget the all time favorite, the picnic on top of the Condor." Starling finished with a wolfish grin.

"Hey! That's not fair! It was neither my fault or Arrows' that the skycorn had gone bad, the ski trip was completely Finn's fault since he used Aerrow's snowboard as a doorstop, and as for the picnic…who could have predicted that the weather could have changed that quickly?" Piper retorted crossing her arms sulking.

"Oh? What about the part where you and Aerrow locked yourselves outside? And were stuck out there until the next morning. Did you know that Stork thought you were a couple of Murk Raiders when he saw you the next morning? He was going to make the Condor do a barrel roll and dump both of you into the wastelands." Starling was smirking now, no longer being laughed at, she was now the one on the attack.

"My problems all come from outside forces; you still haven't even been on a second date yet." Piper returned fire, once again switching the tables of there little duel.

"Not my fault, same as you." Starling replied.

"Well, maybe you're going about it the wrong way." Piper said in a serious tone.

"Hm?" Starling turned to look at her friend.

"Well, instead of letting guys ask you out, maybe you should try asking someone out." Piper offered.

"Tried it, along with singles ads, blind dates, you name it. Last month I actually took Finn up on his repeated offers." Starling replied not moving her eyes from the ceiling.

"Ouch, that must have been a complete waste of time." Pipe flinched.

"As sad as this might sound, it was the closest thing I've had to a normal date. It went pretty well, up until the part where Snipe crashed into the restaurant we were eating at and threw me into the salad bar." Starling's gaze remained fixed the entire time, never once moving from some random speck on the Condors ceiling.

"Finn never told us that he went out with you, I would have thought that he would have bragged about that for weeks." Piper was curious now. She, like every other unfortunate occupant of the Condor knew every time Finn went on a date, who he went with, and what they did, they would hear about it for weeks on end, but for him to keep something like this to himself was…not normal, especially considering who it was he went with.

"I doubt he even remembers it. He took a nasty blow to the head from Snipe's mace. I was worried that he might have been killed, but it seems that Finn's skull is pretty thick, literally." Starling laughed at that one, abet dryly.

Piper bit her lip, she knew of one other possibility, but she wasn't sure if she should voice the thought. Even though she and Starling had become very close, almost like sisters, there were something's about her past she had yet to share, so she was a bit unsure.

"What? You have any other suggestions?" The older woman shot a grin. "You know that Aladd is spoken for, besides he's not my type, if I went within ten yards of Billy Rex I'd have to deal with Suzi, and I know you and Aerrow have been an item for a few months now, the rest are all known by the general public." Starling studied the younger girls face for a moment. "I hope that you're not thinking about any Cycloninan's. Shadow is a sweet girl, and she is a good friend, but I have no intentions of become her stepmother."

"Uh excuse me for a second while I cough up my lunch, yarg!" Piper shuddered at the thought.

"You know my past, the only other prospect I can think of I have to stay away from for his own good." When she saw the young girl raise an eyebrow she elaborated with a sigh.

"Back some time ago, I actually dated Harrier of the Rex Guardians. Now before you judge me, keep in mind I was sixteen, an orphan, living alone for the most part, and had very few friends. Then swooping down from the sky came a dashing young man with a beaming smile and hair that most girls would have fought to the death for. He was quite literally a knight in shining armor, having been knighted earlier that week."

"I guess, but still, it's Harrier. I would take Finn before him, the guys a complete idiot." Piper answered carefully.

"True, but beggars can't be choosers." Starling added.

"Wait a minute; you said for his own good, what did you mean by that?" Piper asked.

Starling was silent for a few moments and Piper was starting to get worried, that is until she finally spoke. "What do you know of my understudy?" She asked.

"Understudy? What are you..ohhh. I take it _he_ didn't care too much for Harrier, am I right?" Piper was grinning from ear to ear. Now she had the opening she needed.

"Didn't care for, would be like saying Stork is a little eccentric." Starling bit her bottom lip. "It actually almost resulted in his being incarcerated, and he was only eleven at the time." Starling said with a serious face.

"You're joking…right?" Piper let out a slight laugh until she saw the look on her friends face.

"No, I'm not joking. He literally was going to be thrown into juvie, the only reason Harrier didn't press the matter was I asked him not to."

Piper could tell just by looking at the older woman's eyes that she was watching the event over in her mind.

"Did he react that way all the time?" Piper asked carefully. When she saw the questioning look on Starlings face she continued. "I mean did he always act like that when you went out with someone?" She clarified.

Starling was silent for a moment before answering. "The only time he reacted like that was with Harrier, the other times he was slightly miffed, or a little grumpy, but no, Harrier was the only one that he outright sabotaged and openly attacked." She replied.

"Ah huh, do you have any idea why he would have acted that way? I don't know him that well, but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would just attack anyone on sight like that." _"Ok Piper, keep it going, we have her talking about him, now you just need to keep her from changing the subject…again."_ Piper patted herself on the back for getting this far, usually Starling wouldn't say more then a few words about her past, or her former apprentice, this was new territory and she intended to explore it as long as she could.

"Well, more than likely, it was because for the first time he was not the center of attention. We had known each other for about six years, and during that time it was just the two of us. Terra Mesa didn't have many children, so most of the people we knew were adults. He felt threatened by Harrier's presence and responded the way anyone else his age would have." Starling answered after thinking for a few moments.

"But what changed after that for him to be more…accepting? You said that was the only time he openly attacked someone, what happened the other times?" Piper asked, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

"Well, after the…incident. I explained to him that he couldn't act that way, it would give him a bad reputation and would reflect badly on me since he spent so much time with me. As for the others, just little things. He would be cold towards them, wouldn't speak to them, or little things would happen. Nothing serious, more along the lines of annoyance, things like disappearing wallets, skimmer's kickstand would be missing, or dinner reservations would be canceled. He understood to the best of his knowledge at the time, but he grew out of it little by little as time passed." She responded.

"_Now we're getting somewhere. Think Piper think. I'VE GOT IT!"_ "Well, maybe not. Think about it, he always seems to be around when you're in trouble. Remember the Cabion incident?" Piper was almost completely sure that she knew what she was doing, she just needed a little more information, and how Starling answered this question would give her what she needed.

"Not completely true. You forget that he has helped others in the past. He regularly answers Tigger's calls for help, I know that he and Scarlett work together quite frequently on undercover missions, Suzi-Lu goes on and on about how he is always bugging her for more advanced training, and I happen to know that he and Shadow are good friends. So, as you can plainly see, he helps others, not just me." Starling responded quickly.

"_I knew it!"_ Piper now had a grin on her face. "Why Starling, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were just a tad bit jealous."

"What! No, I'm not jealous, I'm actually proud of him. I was just stating the facts." She said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

"Right, and the fact that all of his friends happen to be girls doesn't strike you to be the least bit odd? Or make you wonder just a little bit?" Piper was grinning like the cat that ate the cannery, she had control now.

"I don't have to wonder, because I know. Despite what he may claim, Aladd is with Tigger, Scarlett has Finn staked out like a hungry wolf with a slab of meat, he looks up to Suzi as a sister figure and is actually helping Billy in that regard. As for Shadow, I might not know the exact details of their relationship, but I know it's not romantic. He's as protective of her as Aerrow, and neither one will say a word about how they first met. He's both kind and generous, but about as outgoing as a rock. I doubt he's ever even been on a date, much less anything serious." Starling's voice was exasperated.

"_Wait a minute, what's going on? She actually sounds disappointed, something's not right here, I missed something. This might be my one chance, I'm going for it."_

Piper looked a bit uneasy for a brief second but covered it with a sly grin. "Well, why you don't you help change that? Like you said, he's kind and generous, he's nowhere near ugly or disfigured, from the few times I've seen him fight I can tell he can handle himself, and you two have known each other for nearly ten years. That's longer then Aerrow and me! I say go for it, he's oceanfront property!" Piper giggled lightly at her last remark, but it quickly died when she saw the look on Starlings face.

Taking a deep breath Starling looked at her younger companion and said two words that Piper never would have expected to hear from her in a million years. "I can't."

It took a moment for it to fully register, but when it did all of Piper's thoughts came to a screeching halt. "What do you mean you can't? This isn't the dark ages, a girl can ask out a guy if she wants to, you don't have to wait on him."

Starling closed her eyes and remained silent for a few seconds, collecting her thoughts to make sure she was as clear as could be and there that there would be no misunderstanding what she said.

"I am aware of that, and I have actually done so on a few occasions. When I say that I can't, I mean I can't ask _him_ out." Starling saw that Piper was about to ask why so she continued. "Keep in mind, he was my apprentice, like you said, we have known each other for many years, and your assessment of him was accurate. While I can't say for certain that it would work out, I would by no means outright turn him down if he were to ask."

Piper was now more confused then ever. _"She's asked out guys before, but she can't ask him out, she wouldn't turn him down, but she won't ask. What am I missing?"_

Seeing that her friend was now even more confused, she continued. "The reason I can't ask him out is because I am still his teacher, he has yet to learn his final lesion, and until he does, what is, is all there shall be." Starling finished with a glum look on her face.

"I thought you said he _was _your apprentice, not _is_. Besides what does it matter? Aerrow's been my teacher since he became knighted, and we're going out." Piper was now completely lost, she no longer cared about her little covert mission to dig up her friends past. She wanted answers, and if she had to argue them out of her, then she would.

Sighing, Starling continued. "You don't understand. The reason you and Aerrow are an item is because you passed that lesson, or Aerrow believed you already knew it and didn't need to be taught it." Starling's face fell into her hands and she began to rub her forehead. "The reason I can't ask out Kai, is that he has yet to learn one of the most important lessons in life that any person can. If I were to deny him that, it would weaken him, and render him unfit to ever become a Sky Knight, a squadron leader, or even just another squadron member." Starling's voice was rising, and her tone held just a hint of anger.

"Alright, fine, let me spell it out for you. He's fallen for you, and he's fallen for you hard! He never grew up after all these years; he adjusted to what he thought you wanted! He'll do anything to ensure your happiness, even at the expense of his own in the process of doing so! If you care about him as a friend, you'd see that!" Piper yelled so loudly that her voice could be heard echoing throughout the thankfully empty ship.

"I am aware of his feelings concerning me, but it would be cruel of me to deny him the lesson in question." Starling calmly replied.

"WHAT LESSON! Tell me, what could be crueler than what you're doing to him now! I might not know him all that well, heck I'm not even his friend, but it didn't take me all that long to figure out that he truly, deeply, cares for you. Yet, you just sit back and say that he needs to learn some lesson! I thought you were better then that, if you're afraid of hurting his feelings, or you see him as a brother or something you could have just said so. You don't have to have some grand excuse for every little flaw you might have." When Starling didn't answer her, she continued. "You know what! Tell me, tell me what is this oh so important lesson that he must learn!" Piper seethed threw clinched teeth.

Starling looked as though everything was fine, normal, like they weren't in the middle of an argument. "Regret" was the only word she uttered.

"Excuse me?" Piper asked quickly, still with a bit of venom in her voice.

"Throughout his life, Kai has only had to make a few choices, and while some of them were very serious, none of them had a clear cut choice where only one option would leave you with regrets. When he chose to become my apprentice, he gave up a calm and peaceful life to gain the strength to help others. When he chose to run and hide from the council and to live like a fugitive for an entire year, he gave up training and power that few can ever hope to receive or achieve, and in exchange he retained his freewill and individuality. And when he chose to become what he is today, he gained a terrible burden, a curse that I would wish on no person alive or otherwise, but in exchange, he saved my life and those of the other Interceptors at the time. Each choice offered some regrets, but also offered much more in return." Starling's voice remained calm, but Piper could see tiny cracks starting to form in her mask, chips falling off.

"Then how would his asking you out teach him about regret?" Piper asked trying to understand what her friend was telling her.

"Like I said before, I am well aware of his feelings, I know how deeply he cares for me, much more than any other person. I know that, if I do find someone, if I ever do decide to share my life with another, he will regret not having tried for the rest of his life. It will hurt him, and haunt him until the day one of us dies. He needs to learn that not every choice in life will be forced on you, sometimes you have to make the choice for yourself."

Piper was surprised by the wisdom in the older woman's words. She knew that Starling was more than just a cut above other Sky Knights, and that she was serious in all areas of her life, but she had never imagined that she would take teaching so personally, though it did explain why it took so long for her to adjust to their 'training' methods.

"_I get it, what she's saying is that he has never made a choice on his own, they've always been forced onto him, and he needs to learn how to make a choice because he wants to, not because he has to, and I definitely know what she's saying about him regretting not having even tried, after all, I would feel the same if I never asked Aerrow, but…" _

"When a person is taught a lesson, they learn no matter what. If the main point is for him to make a choice because he wants to, so as to avoid something he would later regret, what would he learn if he failed the lesson?" Piper asked finally understanding what Starling was trying to tell her.

"Hopefully, he will learn to avoid regret by taking action to prevent it. However, if he fails to do so, he will have to learn how to live with regret, and move on." Starling stood up and stretched before turning to walk towards her room. "I'm pretty tired from last night, so I think I'll turn in. Wake me if anything comes up." She called out over her shoulder before disappearing around the corner and leaving Piper alone with her thoughts.

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End Chapter.

AN: Ok, I'm not trying to make out that Starling is heartless or anything of that nature, but if anyone didn't get this chapter, just say so in a review and I'll write another chapter to follow up this one and go into greater detail. Either way, tell me what you thought. Also, if anyone's wondering, the first half of this chapter was mainly inspired from listening to two teen girls talking while waiting in a dentist office. Please review!


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